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LIVES 



CHIEF FATHERS OF NEW ENGLAND. 

The Lord our God be -with us, as he was with our fa- 
thers : let him not leave us, nor forsake us. 

1 Kings 8; 57. 

VOL. V. 




JI^T <C I \ E A 3 IE MATIHEIER 



THE LIVES 



INCREASE MATHER 



SIR WILLIAM PHIPPS, 



By ENOCH POND, 

PROFESSOR IN THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, BANGOR. 



Written for the Massachusetts Sabbath School Society, and 
approved by the Committee of Publication. 



BOSTON: 

MASSACHUSETTS SABBATH SCHOOL SOCIETY, 

Depository, No. 13 Comhill. 



1847. 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1847, 

By CHRISTOPHER C.DEAN, 
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts. 






PREFACE. 



The first settlers of New England were remarkable 
men. They were raised up in Providence, for an 
important purpose ; were trained for it by a most 
extraordinary discipline ; and bravely, nobly, did they 
accomplish their vocation. Their characters, on every 
account, are worthy of our study. The knowledge 
and the benefits of their example cannot be too widely 
extended. I was glad, therefore, when I saw it 
announced, more than a year ago, that the lives of 
some of the chief fathers of New England were to be 
published, in a series of volumes, by the Massachusetts 
Sabbath School Society. The volumes already pub- 
lished have been well received, and I only regret that 
the one herewith presented to the public, is so little 
worthy to have a place among them. 

Increase Mather was not a literal Pilgrim, but the 
son of a Pilgrim. He was born in this country soon 
after its settlement, and here he spent almost the 
whole of his long and useful life. For more than 
sixty years together, he was literally a public man. 
He sustained the most important offices, both sacred 
and civil ; was called to act in the most trying and 
responsible situations, and although we claim for him 
no exemption from the infirmities incident to fallen 
1# 



VI PREFACE. 

human nature, yet it may be safely said, that to no 
one of her sons is New England, on the whole, more 
deeply indebted. A brief sketch of the life of Increase 
Mather, was given in a volume, entitled, " The 
Mather Family," published in 1843. The present 
Memoir, though containing some part of the former, 
is yet a very different work. It presents a much more 
full and particular account of the venerable Mather, 
being extended to not less than four times the same 
number of pages. 

The first chapter of the present Memoir is chiefly 
occupied with biographical notices of Mr. Mather's 
father and brothers. My reasons for devoting so much 
space to them are, in brief, as follows : 

In a series of volumes purporting to contain " The 
Lives of the Chief Fathers of New England ;" it 
seemed quite indispensable that some account should 
be given of Richard Mather; and I knew not where a 
notice of him could be so well inserted, as here. 

Then the life of Increase Mather is so intimately 
connected with that of his father and brothers, that, in 
order to a right understanding of the former, the 
reader needs, and must have, some acquaintance with 
the latter. 

It is to be considered, too, that the Mather family 
was a remarkable one, more especially in its first 
generations ; — one which exerted a controlling influ- 
ence on both the civil and religious affairs of New 
England ; and it seemed proper to preface the Memoir 
of the more distinguished member of it with a short 
introduction to the family in general. At the same 



PREFACE. Vll 

time, it is hoped that the notices inserted are not 
without some interest in themselves, and will not be 
unprofitable to those who read them. 

The second Memoir in the volume is that of the 
first Provincial Governor, Sir William Phipps. He 
was cotemporary with Increase Mather, though a 
little younger ; and the two were associated in some 
of the more important transactions of their lives. It 
is fitting, therefore, that their Memoirs should stand 
together. 

Sir William Phipps was in the strictest sense, 
what is sometimes called a self-made man. He com- 
menced life under the most forbidding circumstances, 
and rose by his own exertions to the possession, not 
only of a large estate, but of the highest honors to 
which, in this country, he could at that time aspire. 
And yet he died at the early age of forty-four. The 
study of such a life and example cannot but be useful, 
more especially to the young. It will not be without 
interest, I hope to all. 

In conclusion, I would humbly commit the volume 
to God, and under him to the Sabbath School Libra- 
ries, earnestly hoping that it may contribute to make 
known the deeds of our worthy ancestors, and to 
extend and perpetuate the benefits of their example. 

ENOCH POND. 

Bangor, April, 1847. 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 



4 <■ « »■ *~ 



CHAPTER I. 

His Lineage and Family. Brief sketches of the lives of his father, 
Rev. Richard Mather, and of his brothers, the Rev. Messrs. 
Samuel, Nathaniel, and Eleazer Mather. 

It was a star which guided the wise men of the 
East to the birthplace of the infant Saviour. In 
all ages there have been stars, to lead men to 
Christ. Such, preeminently, are learned, pious, 
devoted, evangelical ministers. They are burn- 
ing and shining lights while here below, and 
having accomplished their work, and turned 
many to righteousness, they go to shine as stars 
in the firmament of heaven forever. 

Among the stars in the right hand of the 
great Head of the Church, which glittered upon 
the golden candlesticks, of primitive New Eng- 
land, none shone with a brighter and more 
attractive lustre, than Increase Mather. I pro- 
pose, in what follows, to make my readers ac- 



10 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

quainted with this venerable man ; — but in order 
to do it to the best advantage, it will be neces- 
sary to premise a brief account of his lineage, 
and family. 

He was the son of Rev. Richard Mather, long 
the faithful and successful minister of Dorches- 
ter, Mass. Richard Mather was born in the 
small town of Lowton, Lancashire, England, 
A. D. 1596. He was early sent to a public 
school at Winwick, where he was boarded in 
the winter ; but in the summer, (so great was 
his desire for learning,) he walked daily four 
miles to school, from his father's house. He 
suffered much, while at school, from the unrea- 
sonable strictness and severity of his teacher, — 
so much that he often entreated his father to 
take him away, and permit him to relinquish his 
studies altogether. But to this his father would 
not consent, but encouraged him to persevere . 
and for his firmness in this instance, the world 
is under lasting obligations to the good man ; 
and Mr. Mather himself did not cease to re- 
member him with gratitude and honor, as long 
as he lived. " God intended better for me," he 
said, " than I would have chosen for myself; 
and therefore my father, though in other things 
indulgent enough, yet in this would never 
condescend to my request, but by putting me in 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 11 

hope that, by his speaking to the master, things 
would be amended, would still over-rule me to 
go on in my studies. And good it was to me 
to be overruled by him and his discretion, rather 
than to be left to my own affections and de- 
sires." 

Let children learn, from this example, to con- 
fide in their parents' judgment, rather than in 
their own. Many an individual besides Richard 
Mather, has found and acknowledged in after 
life, the benefit of having been crossed in his 
childish wishes, and of having been compelled 
to pursue a course of life very different from 
that which he would himself have chosen. 

It is evidence of the proficiency of young 
Mather, and of the confidence which his too 
rigid master reposed in him, that he recom- 
mended him as teacher of a public school at Tor- 
teth Park, near Liverpool, when he was only 
fifteen years of age. He continued in this 
school several years, discharging the duties of 
preceptor, with distinguished success, and per- 
fecting himself, meanwhile, in those branches of 
study which he had occasion to teach. It was 
while he was here, that he became a subject of 
renewing grace. The principal means of his 
awakening was that best of all preaching — the 
strict and holy example of the Christian with 



12 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

whom he boarded. " The exemplary walk of 
this godly man," whose name was Aspinwall, 
"caused many sad fears to arise in his own 
soul, that he was himself out of the way; which 
consideration, with his hearing a Mr. Harrison 
preach about regeneration, and his reading Mr. 
Perkins' book, showing how far a reprobate may 
go in religion, were the means whereby the 
God of heaven brought him into the state of the 
new creature. The troubles of soul which pre- 
ceded his new birth were so exceedingly terri- 
ble, that he would often retire from his meals 
into secret places, to lament his miseries. But 
after some time, the good Spirit of God healed 
his broken heart, and poured into it the consola- 
tions of his great and precious promises." 

From this period, Mr. Mather seems to have 
had his mind fixed upon the holy ministry ; and 
that he might prepare himself in the best man- 
ner, for so great a work, he resolved to relin- 
quish his school, and connect himself with the 
University at Oxford. His residence at Oxford 
could not have been more than two or three 
years ; for in 1618, when he was only twenty- 
two years of age, he received an invitation to 
return to Torteth, not as a schoolmaster, but as 
a minister of righteousness. 

He was ordained, together with several others, 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 13 

by Dr. Morton, bishop of Chester. AVhen the 
ordination was over, the bishop took him aside, 
and addressed him in the following remarkable 
language : " I have an earnest request unto 
you, Mr. Mather, and you must not deny me. 
It is that you ivould pray for me. I know that 
the prayers of such as fear God, will avail 
much, and I take you to be of this number." 

In 1624, two years after his settlement at 
Torteth, Mr. Mather was married to an excel- 
lent lady, the daughter of Edmund Holt, Esq., 
of Bury, who was his assistant in labor, and the 
partner of his pilgrimage, for more than thirty 
years. 

During his ministry in England, Mr. Mather 
was abundant in labors, not only among his own 
people, but in the adjoining towns and villages. 
He always seized the opportunity which his 
attendance at funerals afforded, for imparting 
instruction to the living. He frequently preached 
upon holidays ; because, as he says, " there was 
then an opportunity to cast the net of the gospel 
among a multitude of fishes." Great assemblies 
were then brought together, which otherwise 
would have been worse employed. 

Having spent about fifteen years in the dili- 
gent and faithful performance of duties such as 
these, complaints were at length urged against 

vol. v. 2 



14 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

him for non-conformity; and in August, 3633, 
he was suspended from the ministry. By the 
intercession of friends, his suspension was re- 
moved after a few months ; but it was again 
inflicted the next year, and under circumstances 
which led him to despair of being ever more 
permitted to exercise his ministry in his native 
land. 

About this time, Mr. Mather entered renew- 
edly, and more thoroughly than ever before, 
upon the study of church polity, assisted by the 
writings of such men as Cartwright, Parker, 
Baines, and Ames. The result was, that he be- 
came a decided Congregationalist, and was 
henceforth known as the expounder and earnest 
defender of Congregational principles. 

By the opening of the year 1635, Mr. Mather 
had made up his mind to join the goodly num- 
ber of confessors and pilgrims, who were bidding 
adieu to their native land, and migrating to the 
distant shores of New England. The reasons 
which satisfied him as to the propriety of this 
important measure, were the following, as re- 
corded by himself: " It is right to remove, 

1. From a corrupt church to a purer. 

2. From a place, where the truth and the pro- 
fessors of it are persecuted, unto a place of more 
quiet and safety. 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 15 

3. From a place where all the ordinances of 
God cannot be enjoyed, unto a place where they 
may. 

4. From a church, where the discipHne of the 
Lord Jesus Christ is wanting - , unto a church 
where it may be practiced. 

5. From a place, where the ministers of God 
are unjustly inhibited from the execution of 
their functions, to a place where they may more 
freely execute them. 

6. From a place, where there are fearful 
signs of coming desolations, to a place where 
one may have a well-grounded hope of God's 
protection." 

Such were the reasons which led to Mr. 
Mather's removal from England to America; 
and such, for substance, were the reasons which 
influenced all the pilgrims. Here is nothing 
said about gold and silver, about commercial 
enterprises and gains ; but every one of the six 
reasons has respect to religion, — its purity, the 
liberty of professing and practicing it, and the 
anticipated favor of God in the undertaking. 
These reasons are enough, of themselves, to 
show the nature of the enterprise in which our 
fathers were engaged. It was primarily and 
chiefly a religious enterprise, — undertaken for 
the enjoyment and advancement of religion, and 



16 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

the glory of God. And in the success of it, we 
have a remarkable illustration of that declara- 
tion of the Psalmist : " Surely the wrath of 
man shall praise thee. 1 ' During the twelve 
years of Archbishop Laud's administration, not 
less than four thousand emigrants became plan- 
ters in America. Neale, informs us, that he had 
a list of seventy-seven divines, ordained in the 
church of England, who became pastors of 
churches in America, before the year 1640. 

Among these divines was the Rev. Richard 
Mather. Fleeing in disguise from his persecu- 
tors, who were in hot pursuit of him, he em- 
barked at Bristol, in May, 1635, and arrived 
with his family at Boston, in August of the 
same year. Near the end of the voyage, he 
encountered a terrible storm at sea, and was on 
the point of being swallowed up, but the Lord 
graciously preserved him, to be an ornament 
and blessing to the infant churches of New 
England. 

Before his arrival, the church which had been 
first planted at Dorchester, under the charge of 
Rev. Mr. Warham, had removed in a body, 
with its pastor, and settled at Windsor, Connec- 
ticut ; leaving the remaining settlers at Dor- 
chester, in a destitute state. Mr. Mather was 
almost immediately called to exercise his minis- 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 17 



try among them, and after due consultation, he 
consented to become their pastor, and here he 
continued to the day of his death, a period of 
more than thirty-three years. After the down- 
fall of the hierarchy, he was earnestly solicited 
to return to his former charge in England ; but 
he rightly judged that the Lord had called him 
to this country, and that it was his duty here to 
spend his days. 

The preaching of Mr. Mather is represented 
as being not only sound, and instructive, but very 
direct and plain. He " studiously avoided obscure 
and foreign words, and the needless citation 
of Latin sentences, aiming to shoot his arrows, 
not over the heads, but into the hearts of his 
hearers." Yet so scripturally and powerfully 
did he preach his plain sermons, that Mr. 
Hooker used to say, " My brother Mather is a 
mighty man." In both Englands, he had much 
success of his labors in converting many souls 
to Christ. One of Mr. Mather's hearers, speak- 
ing of events which took place in Dorchester, 
soon after his settlement, says : " In those days 
did God manifest his presence among us, in 
converting many souls, and in gathering his 
dear ones into church fellowship by solemn 
covenant. Our hearts were taken off from old 
England, and set upon heaven. The discourse, 
2* 



18 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

not only of the aged, but of the youth also, was, 
not How shall toe go to England ? but, How 
shall we go to heaven ? Have I true grace 
wrought in my heart ? Have I Christ, or no ? 
O the many tears that were shed in Dorchester 
meeting-house, at such times, both by those 
who declared God's work on their souls, and by 
those that heard them ! " 

At the period of which we are speaking, much 
attention was given, both in this country and in 
England, to the subject of church government. 
Our fathers had little dissension or discussion 
about the leading doctriiies of the gospel. 
These, having settled down upon the good old 
scriptural foundation of Calvinism, had scarcely 
began to be disputed. The doctrinal articles of 
the several reformed churches were remarkably 
at agreement. But many points of church gov- 
ernment and discipline were still undecided. 
The sense of the inspired writers in regard to 
them had not been satisfactorily ascertained. It 
was with reference to these, undoubtedly, that 
the famous John Robinson expected more light 
to break forth from the Scriptures, and exhorted 
his people to follow that light. 

To these points, therefore, the minds of our 
forefathers and their cotemporaries were directed, 
with a deeply interested attention; and it is 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 19 

evidence of the high standing of Mr. Mather 
among them, and of the estimation in which he 
was held, that his services were in continual 
requisition, in resolving and defending points of 
this nature. In the year 1639, thirty-two ques- 
tions, relating to church government, were pro- 
pounded by the general court of Massachusetts, 
for the consideration of the ministers. Their 
answer to these questions was drawn up entirely 
by Mr. Mather. He was a prominent member 
of the synod of 1648, and with his own hand 
drew up the substance of the celebrated Cam- 
bridge Platform, which was then adopted. He 
is said to have been a member of every synod 
that was convened in New England, during his 
residence in the country; and was actually the 
moderator of an ecclesiastical council, at the time 
of his death. This circumstance led one of his 
brethren to write for him the following memo- 
rial : " Vixerat in Synodis ; moritur moderator 
in illis ; — Among Synods he lived; the modera- 
tor of one he died. 

He was one of three ministers, who prepared 
the New England version of the Psalms ; — a 
work more creditable to his piety and orthodoxy, 
than to his poetical inspiration. He wrote an 
answer to Mr. Davenport of New Haven on the 



20 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

subject of infant baptism,^ with which old Mr. 
Higginson, of Salem, was so well pleased, that 
he said : " Mr. Mather is a pattern to all the 
answerers in the world." He was the author of 
several other works, chiefly (though not wholly) 
on his favorite subject of church order and disci- 
pline. 

Mr. Mather was not only an active, but an 
eminently studious man. " So intent was he 
upon his beloved studies, that only the morning 
before his death, he importuned the friends who 
were with him to help him into his study," 
where he had not been for several days, and 
where, he remarked, " My usual works and my 
books expect me. Is it not lamentable that I 
should lose so much time ? " 

Up to the period of his last sickness, the 
health of Mr. Mather had been uninterruptedly 
good. He had never been obliged to call a 
physician; had never been sick of any acute 
disease, nor in fifty years together had he been 
detained so much as one Lord's day from his 
public labors. His last illness was that distress- 
ing one, the stone, with which he was attacked 
while attending an ecclesiastical council in 



* The question between them did not respect the 'calidity of infant 
baptism, but the lawfulness of baptizing any except the children of 
church members, in full communion 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 



21 



Boston. He was able to be removed to his own 
house, but never to leave it afterwards. In the 
paroxysms of his complaint, he seldom groaned, 
but was a pattern of patience to all around him. 
He fortified his soul under suffering, by reading 
Dr. Goodwin's Discourse upon Patience, which 
he continued to do to the day of his death. 
When inquired of as to his health, his usual 
answer was, Far from well; yet far better than 
mine iniquities deserve. He died in peace, 
April 22, 1669, agea seventy-three, having been 
for more than fifty years a preacher of righte- 
ousness. 

It is remarkable that the last sermon which 
Mr. Mather preached to his people, being then 
in usual health, was from these words : "lam 
now ready to be offered, and the time of my 
departure is at hand. I have fought a good 
fight ; I have finished my course ; I have kept 
the faith : Henceforth there is laid up for me a 
crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the 
righteous Judge shall give me at that day." 
2 Tim. 4 : 6 — S. The sermon before the last 
was from these words : " All the day of my 
appointed time will I wait, till my change come." 
Job. 14: 14. A sermon which he had not 
preached, but which was prepared just before his 
last fatal attack, was from these words : " We 



22 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle 
were dissolved, we have a building of God, a 
house not made with hands, eternal in the 
heavens." 2 Cor. 5:1. It has long been a 
favorite opinion with some, that holy men have 
not unfrequently a presage of their approaching 
dissolution, before the event actually overtakes 
them. How far the facts above stated may go 
to confirm such an opinion, I leave for my 
readers to decide. 

About twenty years previous to his death, Mr. 
Mather was called to part with the wife of his 
youth, and the mother of his children ; — a most 
excellent help-meet, "by whose discreet man- 
agement of his affairs, he had been so released 
from all secular incumbrances, as to be wholly 
at liberty for the sacred employments of the 
ministry." She died with the following words 
on her lips : " Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, 
neither have entered into the heart of man, the 
things which God hath prepared for them tbat 
love him." 

Mr. Mather was united in a second marriage 
with the widow of his distinguished ministerial 
brother, the Rev. John Cotton, of Boston. This 
lady survived him. By his first marriage, he 
had six sons, four of whom graduated at Har- 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 23 

vard College, and were able and faithful minis- 
ters of Christ. 

The eldest of the sons, Samuel Mather, was 
born in England, and was brought by his father 
to this country, when about nine years of age. 
He became hopefully pious in mere childhood, 
and is represented as an extraordinary instance, 
not only of early developed intellectual ability, 
but of " discretion, seriousness, prayerfulness, 
and watchfulness." The Arabians have a tradi- 
tion that when John Baptist was a child, the other 
boys asked him to play with them. But he 
refused, saying, ' I was not sent into the world 
for sport.'' Such seem to have been the thoughts 
of the child, Samuel Mather, so far as his 
thoughts were indicated by his general course of 
life. 

He graduated at Harvard College in the year 
1643, at the early age of seventeen, and was the 
first of the graduates who was detained there, in 
the capacity of tutor. While at Cambridge, he 
enjoyed the instructive and powerful ministry of 
Rev. Thomas Shepard ; — a privilege which he 
greatly prized, and for which, after the decease 
of Mr. Shepard, he felt himself called upon to 
make some compensation, by publishing a 
Memoir of him to the world. In proof of the 
estimation in which Mr. Mather was held as a 



24 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

tutor, it is stated, that when he read his last 
lecture in the College hall, nearly all the stu- 
dents were in tears ; and that when he took his 
leave of the college, they actually put on badges 
of mourning. 

At the formation of the second or North 
Church in Boston, Mr. Mather was applied to, 
to be their minister. He preached to them 
their first sermon, and continued with them 
through the winter following ; but having a 
strong desire to visit England, which was his 
native land, he went thither in the year 1650. 

As the hierarchy was now prostrate, there 
was nothing in the way of his advancement in 
England, where his popularity as a preacher 
was even greater than it had been in his own 
country. Almost immediately on his arrival, 
he was appointed chaplain to the lord mayor of 
London, in which situation he became early 
acquainted with some of the most eminent min- 
isters in the land. During his residence in 
London, he was so often called upon to preach, 
that his health was seriously impaired, and he 
was thought to be in danger of losing his life. 
After a respite, however, his accustomed vigor 
was restored ; and we next hear of his preaching 
at Gravesend ; and then at the cathedral in the 
city of Exeter. After this, he was appointed 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 25 

Chaplain of Magdalen College, Oxford, where 
he remained for a considerable time. From 
this situation, in which he seems to have been 
both useful a"nd happy, he was called to accom- 
pany the English commissioners on their tour 
into Scotland, where he continued his labors for 
about two years. 

In 1660, in connection with Dr. Harrison, Dr. 
Winter, and Mr. Charnock, he went with the 
lord deputy, Henry Cromwell, into Ireland. He 
was here appointed senior fellow of Trinity 
College, Dublin, and joint pastor with Dr. 
Winter of the church of St. Nicholas. An 
opportunity was here presented for the exercise 
of that true Christian liberality, for which Mr. 
Mather was ever distinguished ; for when the 
lord deputy gave him a commission for the dis- 
placing of several Episcopal ministers, he re- 
fused to do it, saying, " I came into this country 
to preach the gospel, not to hinder others from 
preaching it." 

This was a measure of liberality, however,, 
which was not meted to him again ; for almost 
immediately upon the restoration of Charles II., 
he was himself suspended on a charge of sedi- 
tion. This charge — a spiteful and malicious 
one — was founded on two discourses which he 
had preached in opposition to the Episcopal 

vol. v. 3 



26 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER, 

rites and ceremonies, and especially to the 
enforcing of them by the rigors of the law. 
When Mr. Mather was notified of his suspen- 
sion, and of the groundless charge on which it 
was based, he said : " If it be sedition to disturb 
the devil's kingdom, who rules by his anti- 
christian ceremonies, in the kingdom of dark- 
ness, as the Lord Jesus does by his own ordi- 
nances in his church, I may say that I did it, 
before the Lord, who hath chosen me to be his 
minister ; and if this be vile, I will yet be more 
vile." 

When Mr. Mather could no longer exercise 
his ministry in Ireland, he returned to England, 
and established himself at Burton Wood, Lan- 
cashire, where he continued about two years ; 
until, with two thousand of his faithful brethren, 
he was ejected by the terrible act of uniformity, 
in 1662. 

Being denied the privilege of preaching in 
England, except on conditions with which he 
.could not in conscience comply ; Mr. Mather 
now returned to his friends in Dublin, where he 
founded a Congregational Church, and set up a 
meeting in his own hired house. And here he 
continued, without further molestation, to the 
day of his death. 

The Mr. Mather of which we now speak, like 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 27 

several of the other members of his family, 
accomplished much as an author. He had 
occasion to go repeatedly into the Popish con- 
troversy, and write in defence of the Protestant 
religion. He preached and published against 
what he conceived to be the errors of the estab- 
lished church, while he was ever disposed to 
treat godly ministers and members of that 
church with affection and respect. He published 
a work, entitled Irenicum, the design of which 
was to promote a greater degree of union and 
harmony among the three principal denomina- 
tions of English Dissenters, the Presbyterians, 
Congregationalists, and Baptists. This was an 
object on which his heart was much set, and to 
further which he did not labor altogether in 
vain. He wrote also on the prophecies of Script- 
ure ; and a volume of sermons on the types. 

He had a controversy with an individual in 
Dublin, on a subject not altogether unlike some 
of the marvels of our own times. There was a 
man there who affirmed that he had the gift of 
healing diseases, by stroking and rubbing the 
diseased parts with his hands. Thousands 
nocked to him from all parts of Ireland ; some 
noblemen, some learned and pious persons, and 
even ministers of the gospel. Mr. Mather had 
no faith in the impudent quack, and prepared a 



23 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

discourse with a view to expose him. This fell 
into the hands of some of the king's privy coun- 
cil in Ireland, by whom it was highly approved 
and applauded. 

Mr. Mather was an example of fidelity, in all 
the relative and social duties. To his honored 
father whom he had left in this country, he was 
in the habit of sending valuable donations, year 
by year, as long as he lived. Of his younger 
brothers he was also mindful, and assisted mate- 
rially in preparing them for usefulness. In the 
year 1656, he was married to a sister of Sir 
John Stevens, by whom he had several chil- 
dren, only one of whom survived him. His wife 
died in 1668, when they had lived together 
about twelve years. Her closing scene was 
uncommonly peaceful. While in her last ago- 
nies, her husband said to her, " You are just 
going where there will be no more pain." " Ah, 
yes," she replied, " and what is better, where 
there will be no sin." When her sister said to 
her, " You are going to heaven," she answered, 
" I seem to be there already, Come, Lord Jesus, 
come quickly." 

Mr. Mather survived his companion only 
about three years. He died in Dublin, Oct. 29, 
1671, at the early age of forty-six, and was 
buried in the cliurch of St. Nicholas, of which 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 29 

he had formerly been the pastor. The following 
epitaph was written for him, but whether actu- 
ally inscribed on his tombstone, it does not 
appear : " Diu vixit, licet non diu fuit" He 
lived long, although he did not continue long. 

As a preacher, Mr. Samuel Mather stood in 
the first rank. His name was known through- 
out the three kingdoms. His discourses were 
remarkable for clearness of reason, and method, 
and for the majesty and authority with which 
they were uttered. It used to be said by critics 
of those times : " Mr. Charnock's invention ; 
Dr. Harrison's expression ; and Mr. Mather's 
logic, would make the perfectest preacher in the 

world." 

The second of the sons of Richard Mather, of 
which we have any account, was the Rev. 
Nathaniel Mather. He was born in England, 
and came with his parents to this country when 
he was five years old. Like his brother Samuel 
he graduated at Harvard College at the age of 
seventeen. After he had entered the ministry, 
he followed his brother into England, and was 
presented by the Protector Cromwell to a living 
in Barnstable, in 1656. Here he continued 
until 1662, when, with his brother, he had the 
honor to be one of that noble band of two thou- 
sand, who were ejected for non-conformity. 
3# 



30 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

Scarcely anything has occurred in the whole 
history of Christianity, more truly honorable to 
religion, than the conduct of these ejected min- 
isters, on this occasion. In the first place, there 
was a vast body of them, including the ablest 
and best men in the kingdom. Then they were 
in quiet possession of comfortable livings, and 
these, in most instances, constituted their whole 
living. They were surrounded with families, 
wives and children, whose earthly prospects and 
comforts all depended on their retaining their 
places. They were themselves dependent on 
their professional labors for a subsistence, the 
most of them not having been trained to any 
other employment, nor knowing how to obtain a 
livelihood in any other way. And then all that 
was required of them was to stretch their con- 
sciences, more or less, so as to submit to the Epis- 
copal rites and forms, and give their countenance 
to what they conceived to be superstitious and 
unwarrantable additions in the public worship of 
God. And yet, their consciences could not he 
stretched. They knew how to make sacrifices, 
to embrace poverty, to endure hardships and 
privations, to go (if it must be) to prison and 
to death ; but to play the hypocrite — to trifle 
with conscience — to do what they verily believed 
would be displeasing to God, merely for the 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 31 

sake of gaining their bread, — they had no heart. 
They preferred to take the spoiling of their 
goods, to retire from their livings, to renounce at 
once their earthly all, and to cast themselves, 
naked and dependent, but yet believing and 
confident, upon the grace and providence of 
their heavenly Father. Verily, here is evidence 
that there was some conscience still remaining 
in England, and that the revival of religion, 
which preceded and followed the overthrow of 
Laud's tyrannical administration, had not been 
altogether without fruit. 

The firmness of this noble band of confessors 
will appear in a stronger light, if contrasted with 
what took place in England, a little more than a 
century afterwards. In the year 1772, about 
two hundred and fifty clergymen of the church 
of England, who were Unitarians, petitioned 
Parliament, that they might be relieved from 
subscribing to the articles of the church, on the 
ground that such subscription was against their 
consciences. But the House of Commons, re- 
jected their petition, and the subscription was 
enforced, as usual. And now what did these 
distressed Unitarian churchmen do ? With the 
exception of a single individual, (Mr. Lindsey,) 
they clung to their livings, and to the emolu- 
ments of a church whose doctrines they had 



32 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

publicly declared they did not believe ; and Mr. 
Lindsey was left to complain, that of the multi- 
tudes in the establishment who concurred in his 
sentiments, only one was found willing to con- 
tribute towards the expense of erecting him a 
chapel. 

But to return to Mr. Mather. Being no 
longer at liberty to preach in England, he passed 
over to Holland, and became pastor of an Eng- 
lish congregation at Rotterdam. Here he 
remained until the death of his brother Samuel, 
when he was invited to take the charge of his 
bereaved and afflicted church at Dublin. He 
was afterwards pastor of a Congregational 
church in London, and one of the lecturers at 
Pinner's Hall. He died July 26, 1697, and was 
interred in the burying ground near Bunhill 
Fields. On his tombstone, the traveler may 
still read a long Latin inscription, prepared by 
Dr. Watts, which ascribes to him a high char- 
acter for genius, learning, piety, and ministerial 
fidelity. 

He was the author of several works, the 
principal of which are, a treatise entitled, " The 
Righteousness of God by Faith, upon all who 
Believe ; " and a little volume of sermons 
preached at Pinner's Hall. The sermons were 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 33 

taken down in short hand, as they were deliv- 
ered, and published after his death. 

The memorials of the Rev. Nathaniel Mather 
have chiefly perished. We have not the means 
of forming a judgment respecting him, as we 
have in the case of his father and brothers. But 
from the several important stations which he 
occupied, the circles of piety in which he moved, 
the works which he published, and especially 
from the character given of him by Dr. Watts, 
there can be no doubt that he was a learned, 
gifted, devoted and faithful minister of the Lord 
Jesus Christ. It was his lot to live in a trying 
period — an era of storm, revolution, and conflict ; 
but he bore the test, he kept the faith, and has 
gone to receive the crown of righteousness, 
which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give 
him at that day. 

The third of the sons of the Rev. Richard 
Mather, who went into the ministry, was named 
Eleazer. He was born in Dorchester, May 13, 
1637, and graduated at Harvard College in 
1656. He immediately commenced preaching, 
being at the time but nineteen years of age. He 
did not follow the example of his brothers, and 
seek a field of labor in the cities of the old 
world, but rather preferred the rude settlements 
of the new. He was the first minister of North- 



34 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

ampton, Massachusetts. Having preached to 
the people about two years, a church was gath- 
ered, and he was ordained its pastor, June 23, 
1658. He died July 24, 1669, the same year 
with his venerable father, and when he had 
been settled only eleven years. He is repre- 
sented as a " very zealous preacher, and pious 
walker," who was instrumental in bringing 
many souls to the Saviour. His death was 
greatly lamented, not only by his own church, 
but by all the then infant churches on the Con- 
necticut river. 

As he approached the end of life, " he grew 
so manifestly ripe for heaven, in a holy, watch- 
ful, fruitful disposition," that many pious per- 
sons anticipated his speedy removal. The 
following are the last words that he wrote in his 
diary; "This evening (July 10, 1669,) I had 
some sweet longings of soul after God in Christ, 
according to the terms of the covenant of grace. 
The general and indefinite expression of the 
promise was an encouragement to me to look to 
Christ, that he would do that for me, which he 
has promised to do for some. Nor do I dare 
exclude myself; but if the Lord will help me, I 
will live at his feet, and accept of grace in his 
own way and time, through his power enabling 
me. Though I am dead, and without strength, 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 35 

help, or hope in myself, yet the Lord requireth 
nothing at my hands in my own strength, but 
that, by his power, I should look to him, to work 
all his works in me and for me." 

When the Rev. Richard Mather lay dying, 
one of his sons said to him : " Sir, is there any 
special thing which you would wish me to do, in 
case the Lord should spare me on earth, after 
you are in heaven ? " To this the venerable 
man, with lifted eyes and hands, replied : " A 
special thing which I would commend to you is, 
care concerning the rising generation in this 
country, that they be early brought under the 
government of Christ in his church." Acting 
on this suggestion of his dying father, Mr. 
Eleazer Mather immediately commenced preach- 
ing a series of sermons for the benefit of the 
young. As this was the last of his public labors, 
so it was considered by his people as the best. 
These " pungent sermons " were published after 
his death, and widely circulated among the 
youth of New England. 

The wife of Eleazer Mather was the daughter 
of the Rev. John Warham, first minister of 
Dorchester, and afterwards first minister of 
Windsor, Connecticut. After his death she was 
married to his successor, the celebrated Solomon 
Stoddard ; and was grandmother of the still 



36 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

more celebrated metaphysician and divine, Jona- 
than Edwards. The only daughter of Mr. 
Mather was married to the Rev. John Williams 
of Deerfield. She was carried into captivity, 
and cruelly murdered by the Indians, in the 
winter of 1704. Deerfield was at this time a 
frontier town, and much exposed to the incur- 
sions of the savages. On the night of February 
28th, a party of them broke into the house of 
Mr. Williams, murdered two of his children and 
a servant before his eyes, and compelled the rest 
of his family — himself, his wife, and surviving 
children — to set out immediately on their march 
for Canada. In wading a small river, the second 
day after their capture, Mrs. Williams fell 
down from exhaustion, and fatigue. Finding 
her unable to proceed further, one of the Indians 
despatched her with his tomahawk. Mr. Wil- 
liams survived his captivity, returned to Deer- 
field, and continued there till his death, in 1729. 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 37 



CHAPTER II. 



The birth and childhood of Increase Mather. Influence of his 
nother. His College life. Narrative of his religious experience. 
He commences preaching. Visits England. His studies and labors 
there. Returns to New England. 



The sixth and youngest of the sons of Richard 
Mather, and the fourth of their number who 
entered the ministry, was Increase Mather ; — 
the more especial subject of the present Memoir. 
He was born at Dorchester, June 21, 1639, and 
received his name, Increase, from the increasing 
and prosperous state of the colony, at that period. 
Like many other eminent ministers, he was 
greatly indebted, in early life, to the prayers and 
counsels of a pious mother. She used to say to 
him, while yet a child, that she desired only two 
things on his behalf; one was the grace to love 
and fear God ; the other, that he might have the 
requisite learning and ability to accomplish 
something for God in the world. "My child," 
said she, " if God make thee a good Christian, 
and a good scholar, thou wilt have all that thy 
mother ever asked for thee." She earnestly 
vol. v. 4 



38 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

inculcated upon him the lesson of diligence, and 
used often to repeat to him that saying of Solo- 
mon: " Seest thou a man diligent in his busi- 
ness ; he shall stand before kings ; he shall not 
stand before mean men."* His excellent mother 
died, when her son was about fifteen years of 
age. She exhorted him, at the last, to resolve 
upon serving Ghrist in the work of the ministry, 
and encouraged him to form such a resolution 
by saying : " They that be wise shall shine as 
the brightness of the firmament, and they that 
turn many to righteousness as the stars forever 
and ever." The impression of this scene and 
of this declaration, uttered under these solemn 
circumstances, was never effaced from the mind 
of her son. It had its influence in the formation 
of his character, and was precious to him all his 
days. 

It is evidence of the capacity and diligence of 
young Mather, that he entered Harvard College 
when only twelve years of age. When he had 
been a member of College about a year, his 
parents, fearing that his health might suffer 
from the confinement and discipline of college 
life, removed him to the family of the celebrated 



* This remark of Solomon, Increase Mather remembered and 
observed, and it was remarkably fulfilled upon him, as we shall see. 
He did literally stand before kings. 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 39 

John Norton, then of Ipswich, afterwards of 
Boston. Here he remained between one and 
two years, pursuing college studies, and keeping 
up with his class. 

Hitherto, though moral and amiable in his 
external deportment, he had made no preten- 
sions to serious religion. He " had walked," as 
he expresses it, " in the vanity of his mind, was 
alienated from the life of God, and unmindful of 
the great work and end," for which he had been 
sent into the world. But in the year 1654, a 
little before his mother's death, he became the 
subject of a change, the fruits of which proved 
it to be saving and eternal. The account of it 
must be given in his own words. 

" The great care of my godly parents was to 
train me up in the nurture and admonition of 
the Lord ; whence I was kept from many visible 
outbreakings of sin, which else I had been guilty 
of, and whence it was that I had many good 
impressions of the Spirit of God upon me, even 
from my infancy. Nevertheless, I swam quietly 
in the stream of impiety and carnal security, for 
many years together, till, in the year 1654, the 
Lord in mercy was pleased to visit me with a 
short but distressing sickness. For this happy 
sickness I have many a time blessed the Lord, 
and I trust I shall bless him forever ; for it was 



40 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

made the means of the first saving awakenings ■ 
to my soul. I was brought now to have real 
thoughts of death, and could see eternity before 
my eyes. My sins, unrepented of, also stared 
me in the face. After I was recovered, the 
arrows of God still stuck fast in my heart, and I 
was in much distress for months together. I 
now resolved that I would no more live in any 
known sin, and thought there was no sin in my 
heart from which I was not truly willing to part. 
I also engaged in the practice of duty, and was 
constant in my secret devotions, which, before 
these distresses of soul, I had many times neg- 
lected. Nevertheless, my wounded conscience 
still remained with me, and God set my sins in 
order before me, bringing those to my remem- 
brance, in all their aggravations, which I had 
long forgotten. He showed me the vanities of 
my childhood, and made me to possess the ini- 
quities of my youth, until my heart, sometimes, 
was ready to sink and die within me. I now 
resolved that I would afflict my soul with fast- 
ing, as well as praying, and seek more earnestly 
unto God for the pardon of mine iniquities. 
This course I took at Dorchester, shutting my- 
self up, during my father's absence, in his study, 
and writing down those particular sins which 
pressed most heavily on my conscience, and 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 41 

imploring- of God that he would pardon them. 
At this time I thought, that if the whole world 
were mine, I would freely part with it, to have 
my hard heart taken from me ; and I pleaded 
earnestly that Divine promise which says, " I 
will take away from them the heart of stone, 
and will give them an heart of flesh." But still 
my flinty heart remained unmoved. 

" Thus my soul continued in the new birth, 
and very sore were the pangs of it. Sometimes 
I was afraid that I had committed the unpardon- 
able sin ; but upon discourse with my father 
about the nature of that sin, I became satisfied 
that I was not guilty of it. Then I thought my 
sins were too great to be forgiven ; but after 
reading a book of Mr. Hooker's entitled, " The 
Doubting soul drawn to Christ,' I saw clearly 
that the greatness of sin was no hindrance to the 
exercise of forgiving mercy. Being thus rid of 
my doubts as to the ability of God to save me, I 
was next pressed with doubts as to his ivilling- 
ness to do it ; and I was foolishly ashamed to 
acquaint any body with my troubles, I was loth 
to have any one know that mine iniquities were 
gone over my head, as a heavy burthen too 
heavy for me. 

" At length, when I could hold out no longer, 
the hand of God still pressing me sore, I ac- 
4# 



42 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

quainted my father with some of my soul dis- 
tresses, stating to him in writing how it was 
with me, and begging him to pray for me. I 
resolved upon setting apart another day, to be 
spent in secret prayer, with fasting, before the 
Lord ; and a happy day this was to me ! A day 
I shall never forget ivhile I have a being ! 

"It was the day of our anniversary election, 
when the scholars at Mr. Norton's were all 
abroad at their diversions, that I took the oppor- 
tunity of a private chamber, and shutting myself 
up, I spent the whole day in pouring out my 
complaints before the Lord. Towards the close 
of the day, being full of distress and anguish, on 
account of my sin, it was put into my heart that 
I must go and throw myself down at the feet of 
my Saviour, and see whether he would accept 
of me, or no ; resolving that if he would accept 
of me, then I would be his ; but if not, then I 
would perish at his feet. So I came before him 
with those words of Esther, ' If I perish, I 
perish.' Yet I said, ' Lord, if it must be so, I 
am resolved to perish at the feet of thy mercy. 
It is true, I am a dog, and am unworthy of so 
much as a crumb. I have been a great sinner. 
Yet I am resolved, the Lord helping me, that I 
will not so offend any more ; but I will be thine 
thine only, and thine forever.' And while I was 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 



43 



thus praying and pleading, those words of Christ 
were darted into my mind : ' Him that cometh 
to me, I will in no wise cast out,' which promise 
I pleaded with the Lord. After that, I had some 
comfortable persuasion that my sins were for- 
given, and that the Lord would show me mercy. 
And thus I went on happily, and walked with 

God. 

" But after some time, Mr. Norton showed, 
that a man might forsake his sins, and have 
been in some sorrow of heart for them, and yet 
not be truly converted. This word stuck deep 
in my heart, and I was afraid that, though I had 
been in unspeakable sorrow for my sins, and 
thence had forsaken them, yet my conversion 
might not be sound. But hearing my father 
pre°ach on these words : ' The whole have no 
need of a physician, but they that are sick,' I 
thought the sermon was preached wholly for 
myself. My father showed, that where there 
was new and true obedience, and the heart was 
changed from the love of sin to the love of God, 
it argued conversion; and on examination, I 
found it was so with me. My father also an- 
swered a scruple which was in my heart. I 
had feared my faith was not right, because it 
was not the preached word, but a season of 
affliction, that was the first means of my more 



44 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

effectual awakening. But he showed that the 
conversion of Manasseh was effected by the 
same means. 

" Sometime after this, Mr. Mitchell of Cam- 
bridge preached on these words : ' Behold an 
Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile.' He 
pressed much to self-examination, laying down 
several marks of sincerity ; as when God in 
Christ has become the rest of the soul ; when 
there is no known sin indulged, or duty neg- 
lected ; and when the heart is for God, chiefly, 
wholly, universally. I set myself upon a serious 
self-examination by these marks, and found that 
my heart went along with the word. So I went 
on cheerfully in the ways of God. And if in 
anything I have been overtaken in a fault, the 
Lord has given me to see it, and mourn for it, 
and turn from it." 

I have transcribed this narrative at length, 
because I deem it one of deep and instructive 
interest. It is interesting to trace the germs, 
the beginnings of true piety, in an individual 
who afterwards became so distinguished. It is 
interesting to see the way in which a soul is led 
to Christ. With considerable variety, it is inter- 
esting to witness the general uniformity of the 
Spirit's operations, in such cases. First, young 
Mather is awakened, under near apprehensions 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER 



45 



of death and eternity. Then, his sins are set in 
order before his eyes. Though an outwardly 
moral and amiable youth, such as some would 
say had almost no sin, he is distressed in view 
of his sins, and the impression is constantly 
growing upon him, that they are many and 
<*reat. Next, he sets himself to an outward 
reformation,— breaking off from every known 
sin, and scrupulously performing every known 
duty, — in hope of making some amends for the 
past. Still, his convictions increase upon him ; 
and the great adversary, no longer hoping to 
divert or quiet him, is bent on driving him to 
despair. He has probably committed the unpar- 
donable sin ; or if not, his sins are too many 
and great to be forgiven. Or if God can forgive 
such a sinner, there is no certainty that he will. 
At length, despairing of help in himself, or from 
any other quarter, he resolves to cast himself at 
the feet of Christ, and if he must perish, he will 
perish there. And here he finds, what every 
sinner who does the same will find, comfort and 
peace. The Saviour receives him into his gra- 
cious arms, raises him up, puts a new song into 
his mouth, and gives him joy and peace in be- 
lieving. And though, subsequently he has 
occasional seasons of doubt and darkness, yet 
his doubts one after another are dissipated, his 



46 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

fears subside, the light increases upon his path, 
and he is enabled to go on his way rejoicing. 
And now how many thousands are there in the 
church of God, who see, in all this, little more 
than a transcript of their own experience. They 
have been led substantially in the same way. 
They know what these convictions and distress- 
es, these hopes, and fears, and joys mean ; for 
they have felt the same. 

Again, it is interesting to observe the manner 
in which God was preparing this young man for 
distinguished usefulness. Unquestionably, the 
best adapted instrument which God can employ 
for the conversion of sinners, is a converted sin- 
ner ; — not an angel, who has never sinned, and 
who, of course, is not in a situation to sympa- 
thize with sinners ; — not a sinner unconverted, 
who, like a finger-board at the corner of the 
street, can only point to a path in which he has 
never traveled ; but a converted sinner. Thus 
taught the celebrated Mr. Perkins, two hundred 
and fifty years ago. " It is meet that they who 
are to convert others, should be effectually con- 
verted themselves. John must first eat the book, 
and then prophesy. So ministers of the gospel 
must first eat the book of God themselves, which 
is truly done, when their minds are not only 
enlightened by it, but their hearts are mollified, 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 47 

and they are brought into subjection to Christ. 
Unless Christ be thus learned, spiritually and 
really, ministers will speak the word of God as 
men speak riddles, and as the priests in former 
times said their matins, when they hardly knew 
what they said/' Such men as Paul the Apos- 
tle, and Augustine, of Hippo, and Martin Luther, 
and John Bunyan, and Increase Mather, and 
George Whitefield, could never have proclaimed 
the gospel as they did, and been the instruments 
of leading such multitudes to Christ, had they 
not first waded the deep waters themselves, and 
learned in their own experience the depth of 
their necessities, and the efficacy of atoning 
blood. 

Mr. Mather, at the time of his conversion, 
was a member of college, whence he proceeded, 
at the same time with his brother Eleazer, in 
1756. The next year he commenced preaching, 
when he could not have been more than eighteen 
years of age. His first sermon was preached at 
Dorchester, under which his venerable father 
was so much affected, that he could scarcely 
pronounce the blessing, for tears. 

It will be recollected that Mr. Mather had two 
brothers, settled ministers in Europe; Samuel 
at Dublin, and Nathaniel in England. At the 



49 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

earnest request of his elder brother, he concluded 
to follow them to that field of labor. 

At his departure, his aged father wept over 
him, and blessed him, and said : " If I hear well 
of you, and if you prove faithful to Christ, the 
joy of it will lengthen out my life." His old 
friend and counselor, Mr. Mitchell of Cam- 
bridge, gave him the following parting injunc- 
tion : " My serious advice to you is, that you 
keep out of company, so far as Christianity, and 
civility, and occasions will give you leave. Take 
this from me : The time spent in your study, 
you will generally find spent most profitably, 
most comfortably, and most accountably." This 
is that Mr. Mitchell of whom Richard Baxter 
said: "If there could be convened an oecume- 
nical council of the whole Christian world, that 
man would be worthy to be moderator of it." 

Mr. Mather sailed from Boston, July 3d, 1657, 
and after a voyage of five w r eeks, was landed in 
England. His first year abroad was spent as a 
student at Trinity College, Dublin, where he 
took his second degree, in 1659. After leaving 
Ireland, he went to London, where he made the 
acquaintance of the celebrated John Howe, at 
this time one of the chaplains of the Protector 
Cromwell. By the advice and influence of Mr. 
Howe, he was introduced to a congregation at 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 49 

Great Torrington, in Devonshire, where he 
spent the following winter, preaching the gospel 
to a numerous assembly, and with much accept- 
ance. 

The next spring, Mr. Mather became chaplain 
to the English garrison on the island of Guern- 
sey. Here he labored to make himself useful, 
and observing the Lord's day to be much pro- 
faned, he preached with such power and success 
on the fourth commandment, that a considerable 
reformation was effected in the island. 

We next hear of him at St. Mary's in Eng- 
land, preaching in the forenoon in the church, 
and in the afternoon at the cathedral. His feel- 
ings inclined him to settle here ; but as the 
Protector was now dead, and Charles II. was 
about to be proclaimed, he saw a change of times 
at the door. Indeed, he publicly warned his 
people, from Rev. 11:7, that further sufferings 
were in store for the faithful witnesses of 
Christ. 

After a few months, he returned to his chap- 
laincy at Guernsey, and here he remained, till 
he was driven away by the rigors of conformity. 
He must either conform to the revived supersti- 
tions of the church of England, or leave the 
Island. In Dorsetshire, he had the offer of a 
living of four hundred pounds a year, if he 

vol. v. 5 



50 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 



would but conform, and read the common 
prayer; but he refused. In short, all things 
around him conspired to admonish him, that 
there was no longer a field of usefulness open 
for him in England, and that it was his duty to 
return to his native land. Wherefore, in June, 
1661, he set sail from Weymouth, England, and 
arrived at Boston about the first of September. 
He came to Dorchester very unexpectedly on a 
Saturday evening, to the great joy of his excel- 
lent father. Here he had the happiness to meet 
his brother Eleazer, who had just arrived at the 
paternal mansion from his settlement in North- 
ampton. " The comforted old patriarch," says 
Cotton Mather, "had the privilege of having his 
two sons in his own pulpit, on the following 
day, while he sat shining between them, like 
the sun in Gemini.'" 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER 



51 



CHAPTER III. 

Mr. Mather's marriage. Hia children. His settlement at Boston. 
His temptations. His want of pecuniary support. His diary 
His plan of study and of life. 

Mr. Mather spent the first winter after his re- 
turn to New England in preaching alternately, 
one Sabbath for his father in Dorchester, and 
the other for the new church in the North part 
of Boston. The following year, he was married 
to Maria Cotton, only daughter of the distin- 
guished John Cotton of Boston. With this ex- 
cellent lady he was united more than fifty years, 
and became the father of ten children; three 
sons, and seven daughters. 

The eldest of these sons, Cotton Mather, was 
for many years his father's colleague in the 
ministry, and was, indisputably the most learned 
man in New England. He was the author of 
almost four hundred distinct publications, many 
of them considerable volumes. 

Nathaniel Mather, the second son of Increase, 
died young. He is represented as a very re- 
markable youth, in respect both to learning and 



52 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

piety. A memoir of him was published by 
Cotton Mather, which went through several 
editions, on both sides of the water. A con- 
siderable part of the first edition was purchased 
by good old Philip Henry, for charitable dis- 
tribution. To the fourth edition, a highly char- 
acteristic preface was prefixed by Matthew Mead, 
author of the "Almost Christian." "I could 
not read the book," says Mr. Mead, " without 
great reflection and shame. For, thought I, God 
will not gather his fruit, till it is ripe ; therefore, 
I live so long. Nor will he let it hang till it is 
rotten ; therefore, Nathaniel Mather died so 
soon. We are not sent into the world, merely 
to fill up a number of yeaj's, but to fill up our 
measure of grace ; and whenever that is done, 
our time is done ; we have lived to maturity. 
And so did this dear youth. Though he died 
at nineteen, he came to his grave in full age, 
and fell like a shock of corn in his season." 

Samuel Mather, the third and youngest son 
of Increase, went to England with his father, 
when he was a child, and seems never to have 
returned. He became " a faithful and useful 
minister of the gospel, at Wilney, in Oxford- 
shire." He was the author of several valuable 
treatises ; among which his " Vindication of the 
Doctrine of the Trinity," his "Vindication of 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 53 

the Deity of the Holy Spirit, 1 ' and his " Vindi- 
cation of the Sacred Scriptures," were the most 
considerable. 

The seven daughters of Increase Mather, 
(with the exception of one who died in infancy,) 
all lived to be settled in the world, to have fami- 
lies, and to give decisive evidence of true piety. 
The whole family were united in the service of 
Christ in this world, and have long since gone 
to be forever united around his throne in hea- 
ven. 

With this brief account, (by way of anticipa- 
tion) of the family of Increase Mather, we now 
return to his personal history. He was not 
inclined, at the first, to be settled over the new 
church in Boston, nor could his aversion be 
soon or easily overcome. After an invitation 
had been extended to him, the people were kept 
in suspense for more than two years. At 
length, the brethren of the church carried the 
matter more publicly and formally to God. 
They kept a day of fasting and supplication to 
Him who has all hearts in his hand, imploring 
that he would turn the heart of the youthful 
pastor elect, and incline him to accept their 
invitation. This measure was altogether in 
accordance with the feelings of Mr. Mather, and 
an encouragement to him to comply with the 
5# 



04 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

people's wishes. He shortly after signified his 
consent to their proposals, and in May, 1664, 
was ordained their pastor. And in this situa- 
tion he continued, serving the Lord " with many 
tears and temptations, and keeping back noth- 
ing that was profitable unto them," for more 
than sixty years. 

In the very commencement of our Saviour's 
public ministry, he was "led of the Spirit into 
the wilderness, to be tempted of the devil." 
And not a few of his faithful disciples have had 
a similar experience. In the beginning of their 
ministry, they have suffered bitter temptations 
from the great adversary. So it was with John 
Bunyan. " Whole floods of blasphemies," says 
he, " against God, and Christ, and the holy 
Scriptures, were poured upon my spirit, to my 
great confusion and astonishment. These 
blasphemous thoughts were such as stirred up 
questions in me against the very being of God, 
and of his beloved Son ; as whether there were, 
in truth, a God, or Christ, and whether the holy 
Scriptures were anything more than a cunning 
story, a fable." ^ 

Those who are familiar with the memoirs of 
the excellent Dr. Payson, will remember that he 



* Ivimey's Life of Bunyan, p. 64. 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 55 

was sometimes afflicted in a similar way. " O 
the temptations that have harrassed me for the 
last three months ! I have met with nothing 
like them in books. I dare not mention them 
to any mortal, lest they should trouble him, as 
they have troubled me. But if I should become 
an apostate, and write against religion, it seems 
to me that I could bring forward objections 
which would shake the faith of all the Christians 
in the world. What I marvel at is, that the 
arch-deceiver has never been permitted to sug- 
gest them to some of his own scribes, and have 
them published. They would, if I mistake not, 
make fearful work with Christians for a time, 
though God would, doubtless, enable them to 
overcome in the end." ^ 

It is recorded of Richard Baxter, that he was 
afflicted with the like temptations. And not to 
multiply instances, the same was true, for a 
time, of Increase Mather. " The first years of 
his ministry," says his son, " were embittered 
with such furious and boisterous temptations 
unto atheism, as were intolerable to him, and 
made him cry out, like Peter in the tempest. 
Vile suggestions, and injections, tending to 
question the being of that God whom he feared 



* Works, vol. I, p. 379. 



56 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

and loved, and to whom he continually prayed, 
were shot at him, as fiery darts from the wicked 
one, and caused him to go mourning because of 
the oppression of the enemy. His holy soul 
suffered an intolerable anguish from these blasts 
of the terrible ones." 

The proper inference to be drawn from such 
cases of temptation is not that there is any real 
force or plausibility in the objections and argu- 
ments of atheists and infidels. The individuals 
tempted would not so decide, so soon as the 
delusion had passed away. But the inference 
rather is, (so the tempted ones understand it, 
and so the Scriptures represent it,) that there is 
a mighty malignant spirit, or more properly 
legions of them, who " go about as roaring 
lions, seeking whom they may devour." For 
the trial of God's people, they are permitted to 
have access to their minds, and to worry them, 
for a time, with their bitter suggestions and 
their fiery darts. How else, I ask, are such 
suggestions to be accounted for, — so opposed to 
the most cherished and established principles of 
the children of God, so abhorrent to their feel- 
ings, so contrary to all their mental associations 
and habits, — darted too, as they commonly are, 
into their minds, at seasons and under circum- 
stances when they might least have been ex- 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 57 

pected, and when they are most painful and 
vexatious ? I know not how to account for 
facts of this description, — facts of not unfrequent 
occurrence, but upon the Scriptural representa- 
tion as to the existence and agency of evil spirits. 
And if the suggestions in question proceed from 
such a source, it certainly is no recommenda- 
tion of them, whether in respect to their reason- 
ableness or their truth. 

Mr. Mather's method of repelling atheistical 
suggestions was not so much in a way of rea- 
soning, as of direct resistance. " It puts too 
much respect upon the devil," he said, " to 
argue and parley with him, and that, too, on a 
point which he himself believes, and for which 
he trembles. It is too much of a compliment to 
atheism, to pour in elaborate confutations of it. 
When we prove anything, we prove what is less 
known by that which is more known. But is 
there anything more known, than the existence 
of a first cause, which, in forming the spirit 
of man, has left on that spirit the impress" of 
itself?" 

Instead of trying to reason down atheistical 
suggestions, Mr. Mather rejected them with all 
possible detestation, as infinitely unworthy to be 
listened to, and cherished such thoughts only 
as carried in them the devoutest acknowledg- 



53 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

mcnts of a God, and the most fervant supplica- 
tions to him. In this way, he seems to have 
tired out the adversary. Being thus resisted, 
the devil at length fled from him. 

These trials, through which Mr. Mather was 
called to pass in the early part of his ministry, 
were doubtless necessary for him. They were 
as necessary as the thorn in the flesh of Paul. 
As he was a highly popular preacher, whom 
multitudes flocked together to hear, there was 
danger of his becoming unduly elated, and thus 
falling into a worse snare of the devil than that 
which was laid for him. The temptations to 
which I have referred, were an effectual means 
of keeping him humble. He could not but 
wonder that the people of God should have any 
esteem for one who was the subject of such 
abhorred and detestable thoughts, as were some- 
times thrust upon himself. 

Mr. Mather had trials of another sort in the 
early part of his ministry, more nearly resem- 
bling those of some ministers at the present day. 
They arose from the inadequacy of his support. 
After he had been settled a few years, his peo- 
ple, or a portion of them, grew slack in the 
fulfillment of their engagements to him ; in con- 
sequence of which he was under the necessity 
of contracting debts, and involving himself in 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 59 



other embarrassments. The following extracts 
from his diary in relation to this matter, may 
fall under the eyes of some who are suffering 
in the same way. As going to develope his relig- 
ious character, they will be read with interest 

by all. 

" Extremely grieved and distracted in my 
studies with the thoughts of my debts, and the 
consideration that my people, (or some of them,) 
do not care for my deep sorrows in this respect. 
Methinks I could be content to be poor, I care 
not how poor, so as I may be in a capacity to 
serve God without distraction. But to be in 
debt, to the dishonor of the gospel, is a wound- 
ing, killing thought to me ; so grievous, that if 
it be not remedied in a little time, it will bring 
me with sorrow to my grave." 

Again he writes thus : " Spent this day with 
prayer and fasting in my study. I closed all 
with this resolution : ' Lord, if thou wilt provide 
for me, and answer my prayers, I will love thee, 
and thank thee, and serve thee. And if thou 
wilt not provide for me, I will yet love thee, 
and bless thee, and serve thee. If thou wilt 
cast me oft; I will not cast thee oft: I deserve 
that thou shouldest cast me off, but thou, Lord, 
never deservest ill at my hands.' " 

On another day, he writes as follows : " Mis- 



60 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

erably perplexed with the sad thoughts of my 
debts, and the unworthy spirit which is in some 
of my people, who have no heart to relieve me 
in these my sorrows, and think every thing too 
much for me ; so that I lose (which most of all 
distresses me,) much precious time, and am 
exceedingly hindered in the work of the Lord. 
The Scriptures direct ministers to show them- 
selves fathers of patience and long-suffering. 
Conscience of this has made me bear this long ; 
but now I can endure no longer, my grief is so 
extreme. O that the Lord Jesus, who hears the 
complaints of his people before him, would con- 
descend to do one of the following things : 
Either give a heart to my people to look after 
my comfortable subsistence among them ; or 
remove me to some other people who will take 
care of me, that so I may be in a capacity to 
attend to his work, and glorify his name in my 
generation ; or give me a sufficiency of grace, 
that these sinking discouragements may not 
overwhelm me ; or take me speedily to himself, 
where no temptation shall keep me from serving 
him with freedom of spirit. For thy name's 
sake, Lord Jesus, pity, hear and help." 

One part of this prayer seems to have been 
very soon answered ; for in the next published 
extract from his diary, he writes as follows : " I 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 61 

am now content to be poor, and in debt, and to 
be laid aside as a broken, useless vessel, if the 
Lord will have it so. Yea, I am content to be 
anything that Christ will have me to be. Now 
I am satisfied ; the will of the Lord be done." 

And now — the trial having fully answered 
its purpose in the hand of the great Head of the 
Church, though without any thanks to those 
through whose meanness and ingratitude it was 
inflicted — the time of his deliverance came. 
The Lord so ordered it that several gentlemen 
of good estate, and of better spirit, became con- 
nected with his church, who " were moved with 
a just and generous concern, -when they learned 
how their worthy pastor had been treated, and 
who took effectual care that it should be so no 
more." 

The case of Mr. Mather, as here presented, 
is an instructive one to us at the present day. 
Churches and congregations may learn a lesson 
from it. Little do they think, often, of the 
sufferings which they inflict upon faithful minis- 
ters, by their unkindness and neglect. And as 
little do they think of the injury which indirect- 
ly comes upon themselves. Their ministers 
cannot serve them, as they otherwise would. 
They have not the time, the heart, or the capa- 
city to do it. And then the judgments of God 

vol. v. 6 



62 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

often follow in the track of a stinted, cheated, 
neglected ministry. People "sow much, and 
bring in little. They eat, but they have not 
enough. They drink, but they are not satisfied. 
They clothe themselves, but they are not warm. 
They earn wages, and put them in a bag, but 
it is a bag with holes." Hag. 1 : 6. 

Ministers also may learn something from the 
example of Mr. Mather. He was not angry 
with his people for their neglect of him, but 
rather pitied them, and prayed for them. " This 
day, pouring out my complaints into the bosom 
of the Lord Jesus, I begged of him that he 
would not punish any of my poor people because 
of their neglects of me, but pardon them, and 
bless them." 

Again, Mr. Mather was not in haste to break 
away from his people, and seek another field of 
labor. u He had offers of a settlement, where 
he might have mended his condition in the 
world ; but he generously refused it, from a 
fear lest the way of truth should be evil 
spoken of." He apprehended, at times, that 
the day might come when a removal would be 
necessary, but he would himself do nothing to 
hasten that day, preferring rather to wait upon 
the Lord. 

The issue of the trial, as before hinted, is 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 63 

also instructive. So soon as it had answered 
its appointed purpose, in humbling and silenc- 
ing - the sufferer, and leading him to say with 
Paul, " I have learned, in whatever state I am, 
therewith to be content" it was kindly and gra- 
ciously removed, and the day of enlargement 
and blessing came. 

Something has been said already of Mr. 
Mather's diary. This was less full and copious 
than that of some Christians of his age ; and 
less so in the latter part of his life than in the 
earlier. Still, he kept a diary, in which he 
noted important occurrences, and recorded some- 
thing of his religious experience. I shall have 
occasion to speak of the diary again, in a subse- 
quent chapter. At present, I only give some 
brief extracts from it, illustrative of his religious 
character. 

Mr. Mather usually kept a day of private 
fasting, once a month, in preparation for the 
monthly celebration of the Lord's supper. At 
the close of one of these days, he writes : " My 
heart was moved to believe that God would 
accept and answer my prayers, and that for the 
following reasons : 1. I drew nigh to him, and 
therefore his blessings will draw nigh to me. 
2. The things which I asked, and the ends why 
I asked them, were for the glory of God, and 



64 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER 



for the honor of his Son Jesus Christ. Not for 
my own sake, but for the Lord's sake. 3. Noth- 
ing but my sins can hinder the answer of my 
prayers. But these cannot hinder, because 
they are done away in the blood of Christ, who 
hath loved me, and given himself for me. Of 
this I am sure ; for I feel that my heart loveth 
him. 4. Never was there any creature who 
did humbly seek unto the Lord for such bless- 
ings as I have this day prayed for, who was 
denied ; and surely I shall not be the first to be 
denied. Forever blessed be my reconciled 
Father in Christ Jesus, who heareth prayer." 

On another of these occasions, he writes : " I 
put the answer of my prayers upon the sincerity 
of my soul before God, saying, ' O my God, if 
I do not sincerely desire to glorify thy name, 
then deny my requests, and let me have no 
answer. But if I do in sincerity desire to serve 
and glorify thee, then have compassion on me, 
and deny me not. Upon these terms, let me go, 
either with an answer, or with a denial.' O 
my soul, wait thou on the Lord." 

May 8th, 1672, was set apart by Mr. Mather, 
as a day of special communion with God, on 
account of the death of his eldest brother, Sam- 
uel, the news of which had just reached him. 
" In the beginning of the day," he writes, " the 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 65 

Lord melted my heart. While I was entreat- 
ing that the Lord would remember the prayers 
which my precious brother had put up for me, 
when he was living in the world, and that he 
would impart much of that spirit to me, which 
he had caused so eminently to rest on my now 
blessed, glorified brother ; — while I was thus 
praying, my heart was exceedingly melted, and 
I had such an inexpressible view of the Divine 
glory, that I was afraid I should have fainted in 
my study." 

The public prayers of Mr. Mather were re- 
markable for their originality and pertinency, as 
well as fervor. Extracts from some of them 
are recorded in his diary, — more especially 
from those which were offered up at the Lord's 
table. " I was this day much affected in ad- 
ministering the supper of the Lord, particularly 
in the last prayer. I said : ' Now, dearest Lord, 
if ever there were poor creatures in the world 
who had cause to love and bless the Lord, we 
are they. We have done thee infinite wrongs ; 
but thou hast forgiven us all these wrongs, and 
dealest with us as with friends. How can we 
but mourn for the wrongs that we have done 
thee ? If we had wronged an enemy, and that 
in a small matter, we should be grieved for it ; 
but we have wronged the Son of God ! Have 
6* 



66 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

wronged, yea crucified, the Saviour ! It was 
our sins which pierced him on the cross ; and 
the blood which flowed from his wounded body 
has procured our pardon. O our Father, we 
have sinned against thee ; but we are sorry for 
it, and would do iniquity no more. Father, 
forgive us, thou knowest our hearts. Thou 
knowest that we could rejoice, if we might 
never have so much as one more sinful thought 
in our hearts, nor speak so much as one un- 
profitable word more, whilst we live. Yea, this 
is the thing that we would most earnestly beg 
of thee. Deny us not, Lord, this most import- 
ant request. Let thy Spirit dwell in us, and 
sanctify us wholly for thyself.' " 

We give but another example of these sacra- 
mental prayers. " I had some quickenings at 
the table of the Lord, especially in the last 
prayer, saying : ' Our heavenly Father, we 
have avouched thee to be our God, and we 
believe that thou hast avouched us to be thy 
people ; for thou hast given us thy Son, and 
thou wilt with him give us all things. Our 
Father, we do humbly crave of thee, that, ac- 
cording to thy covenant of grace, thou wilt, for- 
give us all our iniquities. Thou wilt not im- 
pute our iniquities to us, if they be our burthen ; 
and thou knowest that they are so. We put 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 67 

the answer of our prayers upon this, and are 
willing to be denied, if it be not so. But thou, 
who hast searched all our hearts, knowest that 
thou hast created such a spirit within us. We 
desire to be delivered from all sin, and to yield 
a holy obedience to all thy commands ; though 
how to perform, we find not. Father, deal with 
us as with thy children.' " 

The passages here extracted I am sure will 
not be unacceptable to the pious reader. They 
indicate a sweetness and brokenness of spirit, a 
freedom and intimacy of holy, spiritual com- 
munion, which has rarely been equalled, in this 
world of sin. 

It is interesting to know how such a man as 
Increase Mather ordinarily spent his time. The 
following method of employing it was adopted 
in early life, and, with occasional modifications, 
was continued to the last : 

" Lord's day. Besides my public labors, at- 
tend to the catechising and personal instruction 
of my family. 

" Monday. Forenoon, read comments ; study 
sermon. Afternoon, read authors ; study ser- 
mon. 

" Tuesday. Forenoon, read comments ; study 
sermon. Afternoon, endeavor to instruct per- 
sonally more or less ; read authors. 



68 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

"Wednesday. Forenoon, read comments; 
study sermon. Afternoon, read authors; pur- 
sue the sermon. 

" Thursday. Forenoon, read comments ; 
study sermon. After lecture, * endeavor to 
promote among the ministers what shall be of 
public advantage. 

"Friday. Forenoon, read comments; study 
sermon. Afternoon, read authors ; finish ser- 
mons. 

" Saturday. Read comments. Prepare for 
the Sabbath, by committing my sermons to 
memory, &c. 

" I am not willing to allow myself more than 
seven hours in twenty-four for sleep, and would 
spend the rest of my time in attending to the 
duties of my personal and general calling." 

If the above may be regarded as a fair speci- 
men of the manner in which our fathers in the 
ministry spent their time, then several impor- 
tant facts may be easily accounted for. It is no 
wonder that they were mighty in the Scriptures. 
Here is Increase Mather studying the Script- 
ures six days in the week, from Monday to Sat- 
urday. A part of every forenoon is employed 
in reading comments. These comments were 



* Referring to the stated Thursday Lecture. 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 69 

in different languages, and embraced a vast 
range of biblical illustration and remark. By 
this course of study, continued through more 
than half a century, the language of Scripture 
became to him as household words, and the 
interpretation of difficult passages was familiar 
and easy. 

Again ; it is not to be wondered at, that the 
reading of our fathers was extensive. Increase 
Mather literally fulfilled the apostolic injunction, 
" Give thyself to reading.'''' A part of four 
afternoons in every week, he read authors. It 
is incalculable how many good authors may 
have been read in this way ; and how much 
the mind may have been enriched ; and how 
well prepared to pour forth its treasures in the 
stated ministrations of the pulpit. 

But especially is it not to be wondered at, that 
the sermons of our fathers were so thoroughly 
elaborated, and so rich in scriptural, evangelical 
instruction. Here was Increase Mather study- 
ing his sermons every day of the week except 
the Sabbath, and for three days in the week, 
forenoon and afternoon. He knew what it was 
to bring beaten oil into the sanctuary ; nor did 
he feel at liberty to serve the Lord, or his peo- 
ple with that which cost him little or nothing. 

In one respect, Mr. Mather was decidedly in 



70 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

advance of the ministers of his own age, and 
perhaps of any other age in New England. I 
refer to his manner of delivery. He was not 
only a sound and learned divine, but a graceful 
and powerful speaker. He made it an object 
and labor through life to be so, and he was so. 
He could not consent to be fettered by notes, 
or to pour forth in the Lord's name, mere ex- 
temporary effusions ; and so he incurred the 
labor, habitually, of committing his sermons to 
memory. Whether or not he was wise in this, 
I will not now undertake to say ; but this I do 
say, that he was wise in thinking of the manner 
of his sermons, as well as the matter of them, 
and in studying to make himself an accepta- 
ble and accomplished preacher, as well as an 
instructive one. And well had it been for the 
succeeding ministry of New England, if in this 
respect he had been more closely imitated. 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 71 



CHAPTER IV. 

Course of Mr. Mather in the controversy respecting infant baptism. 
His views of religious liberty. His opinions respecting the per- 
sonal reign of Christ. Death of his father and brother. Severe 
sickness and recovery. 

When Mr. Mather returned from Europe, in 
1661, he found the churches and ministers of 
New England deeply agitated with a contro- 
versy respecting the church state of their pos- 
terity, and the right of those who were not 
members in full communion to bring their chil- 
dren to baptism. The older churches had now 
been established from twenty to thirty years, in 
which time a generation had risen up, many of 
whom did not regard themselves as regenerated 
persons. They were, in general, of sober life, 
but not having experienced the grace of God in 
their hearts, they could not in conscience apply 
for admission to the churches, nor if they had 
applied, could they have been admitted. The 
consequence was, that their children were not 
baptized, and were likely to grow up without so 
much as a nominal connection with the church 



72 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

of Christ. This was a trying emergency to our 
fathers, — one which they had hardly anticipated ; 
and they were led to look about them and in- 
quire, " What shall be done ? Will it be safe 
to innovate on the established order of the 
churches, and admit persons to communion, 
without a credible profession of piety ? Or will 
it be safe to shut our posterity out of the church, 
deprive them of the privilege of Christian ordi- 
nances, and in this way expose the cherished 
vine, which, with so many prayers and tears, 
we have planted in the wilderness, to an early 
decay and an ultimate desolation ?" These 
trying questions were first started in Connecti- 
cut ; and we cannot well conceive of the feeling 
and interest with which they soon forced them- 
selves upon the attention of the colonies. They 
were discussed and decided at a meeting of 
ministers in Boston, in 1657. They were also 
decided in a general synod, in 1662. In these 
decisions, which were substantially the same, 
the difficulty was rather evaded than removed. 
It was not determined that persons of sober life 
who gave no evidence of piety, should be ad- 
mitted to the church ; nor was it determined 
that they could hold no sort of connection with 
the church, and that their children must remain 
unbaptized. A middle course was suggested 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 73 

and adopted ; viz : " that it is the duty of those 
who have been baptized in infancy, when grown 
to years of discretion, though not yet fit for the 
Lord's supper, to own the covenant made on 
their behalf by their parents, by entering into it 
in their own persons ; and it is the duty of the 
church to call upon them for the performance 
thereof. And if, being called upon, they shall 
refuse to perform this duty, or otherwise con- 
tinue scandalous, they are liable to be censured 
for the same by the church. But if they un- 
derstand the grounds of religion, and are not 
scandalous, and solemnly own the covenant in 
their own persons, wherein they give up both 
themselves and their children unto the Lord, 
and desire baptism for them, we see no reason 
why such children are not to be baptized." 

Such was the origin of infant baptism, on the 
ground of what has been denominated "the 
half-way covenant." It was an innovation on 
the original platform of the New England 
churches, which, though sanctioned by a synod, 
and recommended by the general court, was not 
adopted without long controversy. Mr. Mather 
was at this time a young man ; but he united 
his efforts with those of President Chauncy and 
the venerable John Davenport, in opposition to 
the measure ; though, through the influence of 

vol. v. 7 



74 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

his father, and of his particular friend, Mr. 
Mitchell of Cambridge, he was afterwards led 
to adopt it. 

The result of the expedient, however, was 
disastrous. Its tendency was to enfeeble and 
secularize the church, while it quieted the con- 
sciences of many who were living in acknowl- 
edged impenitence, without hope and without 
God in the world. Most persons of sober life, 
when they came to have families, " owned the 
covenant," and presented their children for bap- 
tism ; but the number of church members in full 
communion, was diminishing. Baptism was 
administered to great multitudes, but the Lord's 
Supper, the other special ordinance of the gos- 
pel, was falling rather into neglect. 

If on this question of infant baptism Mr. Ma- 
ther changed his opinions for the worse, I may 
notice another instance in which he changed 
them for the better ; and in which he seems to 
have led the way to a more liberal and scriptur- 
al mode of thinking than had before prevailed in 
New England. As our fathers came to this 
land almost entirely from religious considera- 
tions, — that they might establish churches after 
what they conceived to be the Divine pattern, 
and maintain the faith and order of the gospel, 
so they were very unwilling, more especially in 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 75 

the earlier part of the settlement, to be disturbed. 
If those who essentially differed from them 
sought here an asylum for their peculiarities, 
"the world," they said, "is wide. You are at 
liberty to turn to the right hand, or the left ; but 
you must not intrude here, to disturb us. If you 
cannot think and walk with us, we prefer you 
should walk to some other section of the coun- 
try." It is perfectly natural, that a feeling such 
as this should have prevailed among the early 
settlers of New England. Their peculiar cir- 
cumstances furnished an excuse for it, if they 
did not create a necessity. The feeling did not 
prevail to the extent that many have pretended; 
still, there was something of it here. " Hence," 
says Cotton Mather, " toleration was decried, as 
a Trojan horse, profanely and perilously brought 
into the city of God. Plausible outcries were 
made about Anti-Christ's coming in at the back 
door of toleration. It was also a maxim often 
cited, that to tolerate all things, and tolerate 
nothing, are both alike intolerable." 

It was natural that Mr. Mather, in the first 
part of his ministry, should fall in with these 
current and established opinions. It is even 
said that he wrote a book, which was never pub- 
lished, on the power of the magistrate to restrain 
and subdue heretical doctrines. But as he ad- 



76 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

vanced in years, his views on this subject under- 
went a material change. He became entirely- 
tolerant in his principles, and advocated religious 
freedom, much as it is understood at the present 
day. He insisted " that the man who is a good 
neighbor, and a good subject, has a right to his 
life and the comforts of it ; and that it is not 
his being of this or that opinion in religion, but 
his doing of something which directly tends to 
the hurt of human society, by which this right 
can be forfeited. He saw that a good neighbor 
and a good subject has a claim to all his tempo- 
ral enjoyments before he is a Christian; and he 
thought it very odd that a man should lose this 
claim from his embracing Christianity, just be- 
cause he does not happen to be a Christian of 
the uppermost party among the subdivisions. 
He saw, in short, that until persecutions be ut- 
terly banished out of the world, and Cain's club 
be taken out of Abel's hand, as well as out of 
Cain's, it is impossible to rescue the world from 
endless confusions." 

It is sometimes thought that the principles of 
Christian liberty are of recent discovery. But 
where shall we look for a more explicit state- 
ment and striking illustration of them, than in 
the foregoing passages? And yet these were 
the settled and recorded principles of Increase 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 77 

Mather, almost two hundred years ago ; — prin- 
ciples on which he uniformly and consistently 
acted. At an early period, he assisted in or- 
daining the pastor of a Baptist church in his 
immediate neighborhood; and Cotton Mather, 
speaking of the state of things in New England 
at a later period, says : " Calvinisms with Luther- 
ans, Presbyterians with Episcopalians, Pedo- 
baptists with Anabaptists, beholding one another 
to fear God and work righteousness, do with 
delight sit down together at the same table of 
the Lord ; nor do they hurt one another in the 
holy mountain." 

As we are now upon the opinions of Increase 
Mather, it may be proper to notice a point in 
which he agreed, substantially, with his cotem- 
poraries, but differed from the generality of 
Christians at the present day. The opinions 
now prevailing in this "country in respect to the 
Millennium, date not much further back than the 
time of President Edwards. It was his discus- 
sions of the subject, together with those of Doc- 
tors Hopkins and Bellamy, which changed the 
previously received notions of the Millennium, 
for those which now so generally prevail. The 
first ministers of New England, like many of 
the primitive Christians, and of the Protestant 
reformers, lived in habitual expectation of the 
7# 



78 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

second coming of Christ. Some thought, with 
Wickliffe, that the Millennium was past, and that 
they were living in the very last days of the 
world. Others held that the Millennium was 
about to* be ushered in by the second coming of 
Christ, to reign personally and gloriously on the 
earth, during the whole of that period. In proof 
that such opinions very generally prevailed, I 
might adduce many facts. Thus, at the time of 
the great earthquake in New England, in the 
year 1727, multitudes mistook the roar of it for 
the sounding of the last trump, supposing that 
Christ had already come. It was followed by a 
great awaking in Boston, though not, as we are 
informed, by many conversions. Also, during 
certain vivid and terrific corruscations of the 
Aurora Borealis, which occurred more than a 
hundred years ago, many excellent people walked 
the streets the whole nigfft, expecting the instant 
appearance of the Son of Man. 

As might be expected, Mr. Mather adopted 
and advocated the current opinions respecting 
the speedy coming of Christ, and was, without 
doubt, a means of extending and establishing 
them. About the year 1668, he wrote a book, 
in Latin, which was afterwards published in 
Holland, entitled "A Diatribe concerning the 
Sign of the Son of Man, and the Second Coming 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 79 

of the Messiah;" in which he insists that this 
great event " will be at the beginning of that 
happy state which is to be expected for the 
church on earth, in the latter days." 

In the spring of 1669, Mr. Mather was called 
•to bury his father, and scarcely had this sad of- 
fice of affection and piety been performed, when 
tidings reached him of the sudden death of his 
beloved brother Eleazer. This made it neces- 
sary for him to take a journey to Northampton, 
that he might assist and comfort the desolate 
widow and the afflicted people. While here, he 
was himself attacked with a violent fever, which 
continued many days. During this period, he 
was the subject of incessant prayer, and a phy- 
sician was sent all the way from Boston to his 
relief. He recovered slowly, and was but just 
able to return to his family and people before 
the setting in of winter. He was kept from his 
pulpit by continued weakness and indisposition, 
till the next spring. During his sickness, he 
wrote as follows : 

" God was wonderfully gracious to me. He 
did not leave me to doubts and fears, but caused 
his face to shine upon me. I found myself very 
willing to die. When I thought of my wife 
and children, my heart gave them up to God, 
firmly believing that he would take care of them. 



SO LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

I had as much quiet in my mind, as though I 
had neither wife nor child to care for. When 
I thought of that blessedness which is to be en- 
joyed in another world, I longed to be there. O 
the presence of God ! The presence of God ! 
It is sweeter than life itself. My soul knoweth* 
it." 

In the spring of the year 1670, we find Mr. 
Mather again in the pulpit. His first sermon 
was from these words : " Blessed is the man 
whom thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest out 
of thy law." Still, however, he was feeble in 
body, and in a somewhat melancholy and hypo- 
chondriac state of mind. On one occasion, he 
records his feelings to this effect : " I was in 
much distress and anguish of spirit, lest all my 
faith should prove but phantasy and delusion. In 
this trouble, I betook myself to Christ, and wept 
before him, saying, ' Lord Jesus, let me be des- 
troyed, if thou canst find it in thy heart to des- 
troy a poor creature, who desires, above all 
things, to glorify thy name. Here I am before 
thee. Do to me and with me, as thou wilt. If 
thou wilt glorify thyself in my confusion, thy 
will be done. I have deserved that it should be 
so. But that thou wouldest hear me, and pity 
me !' After I had thus fled and cried unto the 
Rock of my Salvation, I was revived." 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 81 

As soon as Mr. Mather was able to engage in 
such a labor, we find him preparing and publish- 
ing a Memoir of his father. He also prepared 
for the press and published a volume of his 
brother Eleazer's sermons. They were intended 
especially for the rising generation, and had a 
wide circulation among the youth of New Eng- 
land, 



82 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 



CHAPTER V. 

Philip's war. Great fire in Boston. Small Pox. The reforming 
Synod. Mr. Mather's agency in it. Severe fits of sickness. Or- 
dination of his Son. Is appointed President of Harvard College. 

For the next four or five years after Mr. Math- 
er's recovery from sickness, he seems to have 
devoted himself, with more quiet and constancy 
than usual, to the concerns of his flock. The 
year 1675 was one of great terror and distress 
in New England. Instigated by Philip, a chief 
of the Narragansetts, most of the Indians in the 
country (with the exception of those who had 
been converted to Christianity,) entered into a 
conspiracy to cut off the white inhabitants, or 
drive them from the land. To effect this object, 
Philip is said to have had in the field, at one 
time, an army of three thousand warriors. And 
when it is considered that these savages were 
athletic, cunning, treacherous, cruel, perfectly 
acquainted with localities, expert in the use of 
firearms with which they were now well sup- 
plied, and capable of enduring hunger and hard- 
ship to any requisite amount, it will be seen, at 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 83 

once, that three thousand of them, under charge 
of such a leader as Philip, must have been a 
most terrible body to the New England settlers. 
As this was the last general war with the Indi- 
ans, so it was the most bloody and desolating of 
them all. It continued nearly two years, in 
which time many nourishing towns were re- 
duced to ashes, and not less than six hundred of 
the English settlers, constituting the flower and 
strength of several of the districts, either fell in 
battle, or were massacred in their dwellings, or 
expired under the tortures and hardships of an 
Indian captivity. 

Mr. Mather warned his people, and the coun- 
try, of the approaching day of trouble, before it 
came ; and when it did come, he made the best 
use of it, by bearing solemn testimony against 
those prevailing iniquities which had provoked 
the judgments of heaven, and in calling his suf- 
fering fellow citizens to repentance. As the 
people were unable, during these years of terror, 
to cultivate their fields with safety and success, 
the country was threatened with the horrors of 
famine, as well as those of war. In this extrem- 
ity, Mr. Mather, "by his letters, procured a 
whole ship's load of provisions from the charity 
of his friends in Dublin, and a considerable sum 
of money and much clothing, from friends in 



84 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

London, to be distributed among the needy and 
distressed." Our country is at this time paying 
a debt of gratitude, so long ago contracted, by 
sending back ship-loads of provisions to the 
starving and perishing in Ireland and England. 

In the year 1676, (the second year of Philip's 
war,) Boston was visited with a distressing fire. 
In some unaccountable way, Mr. Mather had a 
presentiment of the approach of this calamity, 
and warned his people of it, two Sabbaths in 
succession. The very night of the second Sab- 
bath, the fire broke out in his immediate neigh- 
borhood, his meeting-house and dwelling-house 
were both consumed, and whole streets were 
laid in ashes. His library, which was in part 
consumed, was soon made up to him by the 
generosity of friends ; and in less than two years 
he was put in possession of a better house than 
that he had lost. His flock was scattered for a 
time, till a place of worship could be provided ; 
but " God made it an opportunity for him to 
preach every Lord's day in the other churches, 
and thus to benefit the whole city with his en- 
lightening and awakening ministry." 

Only two years after, New England was vis- 
ited with another distressing calamity— the small 
pox. As neither vaccination nor inoculation 
was then practiced, we can hardly conceive of 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 85 

the terror and distress which such a visitation 
must have inflicted on the suffering inhabitants. 
It was like the plague or the cholera of our own 
times ; and even more distressing, as the disease 
was more fearfully contagious. Never before 
had Boston seen so dreadful a mortality. " The 
cry of the city went up to heaven." 

These repeated and sore corrections led our 
fathers to look around them, and to search their 
own hearts and characters, for the cause. They 
remembered that long promulged maxim of the 
Divine government : " If his children forsake 
my law, and walk not in my judgments ; if they 
break my statutes, and keep not my command- 
ments, then will I visit their transgressions with 
a rod, and their iniquity with stripes ;" and they 
were led very carefully to inquire wherein they 
had forsaken the law and the judgments of God, 
broken his statutes and commandments, and 
thereby exposed themselves to such awful visita- 
tions. 

" New England," says Cotton Mather, " was 
not become, at this time, so degenerate a country 
but that there was yet preserved in it far more 
of serious religion, as well as of blameless mo- 
rality, than was proportionably to be seen in any 
country upon the face of the earth. Neverthe- 
less, the spirit of the world had begun so far to 

vol. v. 8 



86 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

operate, that there was a visible decay of real 
and vital piety, and the power of godliness had 
sensibly suffered some abatements. Watchful, 
fruitful, prayerful Christians, and humble walk- 
ers with God, were not so many as they had 
been, among a people greatly multiplying, and 
the holy God might also say, " There are wicked 
men among my people." 

Wherefore, upon the suggestion of Mr. Mather 
and others, the general court convoked a synod, 
(commonly called the reforming synod,) to con- 
sist of pastors and delegates from the several 
churches of the colony, whose duty it should be 
to consider and report upon the following ques- 
tions : 

1. What are the evils that have provoked the 
Lord to bring his judgments upon New England ? 

2. What is to be done, that so these evils may 
be reformed ? 

The churches having first kept a general fast, 
that the blessing of God might rest upon the 
proposed undertaking, the synod met at Boston, 
September 10, 1679. The first day of the ses- 
sion was spent in prayer and fasting, in the 
course of which Mr. Mather and old Mr. Cob- 
bett of Ipswich preached. Several days were 
then occupied in a free discussion of the ques- 
tions proposed ; after which a result, drawn up 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 87 

by Mr. Mather, was unanimously adopted. On 
the day when this result was presented to the 
general court, Mr. Mather preached again, on 
" the Danger of not being Reformed by these 
Things." The result was cordially accepted by 
the court, and commended to " the serious con- 
sideration of all the churches and people in the 
jurisdiction." 

Among the evils enumerated by the synod as 
having provoked the judgments of God, were 
the following : 1. A great and visible decay of 
the power of godliness among professors of relig- 
ion. 2. Abounding pride. 3. Profaneness. 4. 
Sabbath-breaking. 5. Neglecting family gov- 
ernment. 6. The indulgence of inordinate pas- 
sions. 7. Intemperance. 8. Violations of 
honesty and truth. 9. An inordinate love of the 
world. 10. A want of public spirit. 11. Sins 
more directly against the gospel. 12. A mani- 
fest unwillingness to be reformed. 

In answer to the second question, viz: What 
things are to be done, that so these evils maybe 
removed; the synod recommend, 1. That the 
work of reformation commence with magistrates, 
and all those who are in authority. " Moses, 
being to reform others, began with what con- 
cerned himself and his. People are apt to fol- 
low the example of those that are above them.' 



88 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

2. The synod recommend a public declaration 
of adherence to the Cambridge Platform of 
church order and discipline. This recommen- 
dation was carried into effect in the synod itself; 
every member lifting his hand in favor of the 
Platform, and not one appearing against it. 3. 
The synod enjoin greater strictness and faithful- 
ness in the admission of members to the church- 
es ; also in maintaining church discipline. 4. 
The synod further recommend ihe most earnest 
endeavors for supplying the churches with faith- 
ful pastors, and for their encouragement and 
support in fulfilling the duties of their office. 5. 
A reformation may be much promoted by due 
care and faithfulness in the establishment and 
execution of wholesome laws. 6. Solemn and 
explicit renewal of covenant is a scriptural expe- 
dient for reformation. 7. Effectual care must 
be taken to establish and encourage schools of 
learning. Finally, " it becometh us to cry 
mightily unto God, both in an ordinary and ex- 
traordinary manner, that he would be pleased to 
rain down righteousness upon us." 

I have presented this abstract of the doings of 
the famous reforming synod, as illustrating not 
only the spirit of the times, but the personal 
character and history of Mr. Mather. As he 
originated the project of a synod, so he was the 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 89 

prime mover and counselor in all its delibera- 
tions. The result which, as before stated, was 
drawn up by his hand, gives evidence of his 
diligence in searching out existing evils, and of 
his unsparing fidelity in directing to the most 
appropriate remedies. 

The synod itself, if it did not accomplish all 
that was expected, was of essential service to 
the cause of piety* Encouraged and strength- 
ened by it, ministers were more searching and 
faithful in their discourses, and their labors were 
followed with a proportionally increased success. 
The best effects were also realized from that re- 
newal of covenant which the synod so earnestly 
recommended. The churches first came togeth- 
er, with their pastors, to consider what God ex- 
pected of them, and to prepare their minds for 
the solemn service in which they were about to 
engage. Then, on a day set apart for the ser- 
vice, and after appropriate sermons and prayers, 
the proposed covenant was read to them, and all 
united in receiving and adopting it. And as 
there was usually a multitude of people present 
on these occasions, so there were thousands who 
felt and testified that they never saw more con- 
vincing evidence of the special presence of God, 
than was witnessed in these awful solemnities. 

The synod of which we have spoken had a 
8* 



90 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

second session in the spring of the following 
year, at which time Mr. Mather was appointed 
moderator. It was at this session, thaUhe New 
England Confession of Faith was adopted. This 
is the same as the Savoy Confession ; and sub- 
stantially the same, as to the doctrinal parts of 
it, with the more celebrated Westminster Con- 
fession. The reason why our fathers preferred 
to adopt a confession already in existence, rather 
than prepare one for themselves, was, as they 
inform us, that by agreeing to the very " words 
of their brethren in England, they might, with 
one mouth as well as heart, glorify God and our 
Lord Jesus Christ." 

At a general court held in Boston, May 19, 
1680, the result of the second session of synod, 
then just closed, was presented for acceptance, 
whereupon the following order was passed : 
" This court, having taken into consideration the 
request that hath been presented by several of 
the reverend elders, in the name of the late sy- 
nod, do approve thereof; and accordingly order, 
that the Confession of faith agreed upon, together 
with the Platform of discipline consented unto 
by the synod at Cambridge in 1648, be printed, 
for the benefit of the churches in present and 
after times." 

Mr. Mather was ill when the second session 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 91 

of the synod commenced, of which he was ap- 
pointed moderator ; but so intent was he on the 
business to be done, that for the time he forgot 
his sickness ; and so closely did he keep his 
brethren to their work, that in two days they 
despatched it, and were ready to return to their 
homes. 

On this, Mr. Mather immediately took his 
bed, under a dangerous fever, which left him 
with a cough, and with symptoms of consump- 
tion. He was sick a long time, was brought 
very low, and his life at times despaired of. 
When inquired of whether he expected soon to 
die, he answered : " I am not careful about that 
matter. I have the consciousness that I have 
endeavored to walk before God with a perfect 
heart, and to do that which is well pleasing in 
his sight. Nevertheless, I do not think I shall 
die of this sickness. I have not yet suffered for 
my Lord Jesus Christ so much as I have de- 
sired. Much prayer was offered up by his 
church and by other Christian friends, on his 
behalf; and upon his recovery, his people did 
him the honor to observe a day of public thanks- 
giving, for so great a favor. 

In the year 1681, the Rev. Urian Oakes, 
President of Harvard College, died, and Mr. 
Mather was appointed his successor. At the 



92 LIFE"DF INCREASE MATHER. 

commencement following, he took the chair and 
conferred the degrees ; but as his church were 
unwilling to grant him a dismission, the office 
was at length declined. 

In the year 16S4, Mr. Mather had another 
severe fit of sickness, during which (as before,) 
much prayer was offered up to God for him, and 
he was favored with a calm serenity of mind, 
rejoicing in hope of the glory to be revealed. 
His first sermon after his recovery was from Is. 
38: 18, 19. "The grave cannot praise thee. 
The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I 
do this day." The leading sentiment of the dis- 
course was this : " The servants of God, whilst 
living in the world, have many opportunities and 
advantages to glorify him, which the saints in 
heaven have not." Among other particulars, 
this was noticed ; " they have the opportunity to 
suffer for him." 

It was during this year, that Mr. Mather had 
the satisfaction of receiving his son, Cotton Ma- 
ther, as his colleague in the work of the minis- 
try. The son was ordained May 13, 1684, 
when his father preached. Messrs. Allen and 
Willard, in connection with his father, imposed 
hands, and the venerable Eliot expressed the 
fellowship of the churches. The connection 
thus formed between father and son was con tin- 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 93 

ued, with the utmost harmony, (except that the 
father was occasionally absent,) for almost forty 
years. « 

After the death of President Rogers, in 1685, 
Mr. Mather was again requested " to act as Pres- 
ident of the college, until a further settlement 
be made ;" with the understanding that he was 
to reside and preach in Boston, and spend a por- 
tion of his time at Cambridge during the week. 
In this way, his official connection with the col- 
lege commenced ; and it continued without any 
material alteration (except that he afterwards 
became, not merely the acting, but the actual 
President) for a period of about sixteen years. 

Up to this timet the classes at Cambridge had 
usually consisted of from two, three, or four stu- 
dents up to eight or ten. But during the presi- 
dency of Mr. Mather, the number increased, so 
that the classes often consisted of more than 
twenty. In the year 1682, a new college edifice 
was erected, denominated Harvard Hall, which 
stood till it was destroyed by fire, in 1764. The 
sixteen years of Mr. Mather's presidency was a 
deeply interesting period, not only to the college, 
but also to the colonies, to both of which he sus- 
tained the most important relations. A review 
of it will be undertaken in the following chap- 
ters. 



94 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER- 



CHAPTER VI. 

The charter of Massachusetts demanded. Mr. Mather dissuades 
from surrendering it. Rage of his enemies. The charter taken 
away. Death of Charles II., and accession of James. Provisional 
government established. Administration of Sir Edmund Androa. 
Mr. Mather sent to England on an agency for the colony. 

We have heard already of the Reforming Synod 
of 1679, — of its occasion, and results. It was 
hoped that a reformation and return to God so 
general and entire would be effected, that the 
tokens of his displeasure against the people of 
New England might be removed. But it was 
soon manifest that his holy hand was stretched 
out still, and that trials and perils more formida- 
ble than any that our fathers had yet encoun- 
tered were before them. 

From the accession of Charles II. to this time, 
a period of some ten or twelve years, there had 
never been a good understanding between him 
and the New England colonies, more especially 
that of Massachusetts. From time to time, he 
had been pressing claims upon the colonists, 
which they had endeavored to evade, and had 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 95 

been making encroachments upon their chartered 
liberties, which they were determined to resist. 
Prejudiced individuals (foremost among whom 
was the notorious Edward Randolph,) were also 
filling the royal ears with complaints against the 
colonies, and increasing the causes of irritation, 
by every method in their power. At length, in 
October, 1683, Randolph came over with a mes- 
sage from the king,, that unless the people of 
Massachusetts would make a full submission and 
entire resignation of their charter to his pleasure, 
a Quo Warranto against it should be prosecut- 
ed. The question before the people was, wheth- 
er they should voluntarily surrender their charter, 
or have it forcibly taken from them. This ques- 
tion was submitted to Mr. Mather, who in his 
answer demonstrated that they would act the 
part, neither of true Englishmen nor of good 
Christians, if, by any act of theirs, they became 
accessory to the plot then in progress to produce 
a general shipwreck of their liberties. This 
answer was instantly and widely circulated, and 
with great effect ; and in proportion to its effects 
was the rage of Randolph, and those who acted 
under his influence. In the fullness of their 
spite, they customarily spoke of Mr. Mather as 
the Mahomet of New England. Still, the good 
man was not to be terrified or deterred from 



96 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

discharging what he believed his duly. Ac- 
cordingly, when the freemen of Boston came 
together to give instructions to their deputies to 
the general court, he was desired to be present, 
and to favor them with his thoughts on the case 
of conscience that was to come before them. 
The speech which he made in the town-house 
on that occasion is preserved, and is verbatim as 
follows : " Gentlemen, as the question is now 
stated, whether you will make a full submission 
and entire resignation of your charter, and the 
privileges of it, unto his majesty's pleasure, I 
verily believe we shall sin against the God of 
heaven, if we vote an affirmative to it. The 
Scripture teacheth us otherwise. We know 
what Jephthah said, ' That which the Lord our 
God has given us, shall we not possess it ?' And 
though Naboth ran a great hazard by the refusal, 
yet he said, ' God forbid that I should give away 
the inheritance of my fathers.' Nor would it be 
wisdom for us to comply. We know that David 
made a wise' choice, when he preferred to fall 
into the hands of God, rather than into the hands 
of men. If we make a full submission and en- 
tire resignation to the king's pleasure, we fall 
directly into the hands of men. But if we do it 
not, we still keep ourselves in the hands of God. 
We trust ourselves with his providence ; and 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 97 

who knows what God may do for us ? There 
are also examples before our eyes, the consider- 
ation of which should have weight with us. 
Our brethren hard by us, what have they gained 
by being so ready to part with their liberties, 
but an acceleration of their miseries ?* And we 
hear from London, that the loyal citizens would 
not make a full submission and entire resigna- 
tion, lest their posterity should curse them for 
it. And shall we, then, do such a thing? I 
hope there is not a freeman in Boston that can 
be guilty of it. However, I have discharged my 
conscience in what I have thus declared to you." 
This speech was received with great satisfac- 
tion by the freemen of Boston. Many of them 
were affected to tears, and all came round him 
with expressions of gratitude. But Randolph 
and his party were more enraged than ever ; and 
one method which they took to injure Mr. Ma- 
ther, is too strongly characteristic of them to be 
wholly passed over. They forged a letter in the 
name of Mr. Mather, and caused it to be put into 
the hands of Sir Lionel Jenkins, the king's Sec- 
retary of State, containing severe reflections 
upon the Secretary, and praising certain individ- 
uals who were known to be obnoxious to the 



* Referring, doubtless, to the Plymouth colony, which was without 
a charter. 

VOL. V. 9 



98 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

king. The forgery, however, was so palpable, 
that the secretary treated it with contempt. — 
When Mr. Mather heard of it, he wrote at once 
to the secretary, disclaiming all knowledge of 
the letter, and expressing the opinion that .Ran- 
dolph wrote it. This excited the hatred of Ran- 
dolph the more, and he brought two successive 
actions against Mr. Mather for defamation. But 
from both of them the good man escaped ; in the 
first instance, by being honorably acquitted ; and 
in the second, as we shall see, by being sent out 
of the country. 

But to return to the charter. The people 
having refused to surrender it, the process of 
quo warranto was urged forward with all the 
expedition that was compatible with forensic for- 
mality. Among other instances of tyrannical 
contempt of justice, the summons which required* 
the colony to defend itself was transmitted so 
tardily, that before compliance with it was possi- 
ble, the space assigned for such compliance had 
elapsed. In the year 1684, judgment was pro- 
nounced against the charter by the English 
court of King's Bench, and in July of the fol- 
lowing year, an official copy of this judgment 
was received in Boston. 

No sooner had judgment been rendered 
against the charter, than Charles began to make 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 99 

arrangements for the new government of the 
colony, " And as if he purposed to consum- 
mate his tyranny and vengeance by a measure 
that should surpass the darkest anticipations 
entertained in New England, he selected as the 
delegate of his prerogative, a man, than whom 
it would be difficult, in all the records of human 
wickedness and oppression to find one who has 
excited to a greater degree the abhorrence and 
indignation of his fellow creatures. The noto- 
rious Col. Kirke, whose ferocious and detesta- 
ble cruelty has secured him an immortality of 
infamy in the history of old England, was ap- 
pointed governor of Massachusetts, New Hamp- 
shire, Maine, and New Plymouth ; and it was 
determined that no representative assembly of 
the colonists, should be permitted to exist, but 
that all the functions of municipal authority 
should be vested in the governor, and a council 
appointed during the royal pleasure."^ 

In these days of trial and peril to New Eng- 
land, the pious ministers and churches had no 
resource but in prayer ; and here they had a 
resource and a consolation, of which their ene- 
mies were ignorant. The following record is 
in Mr. Mather's diary of Feb. 6th, 1685. " This 



* Grahame's Hist, of U. States, vol. I, p. 253, 



100 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

day, as I was praying to God for the deliverance 
of New England, I was very much moved and 
melted before the Lord, so that for sometime I 
wa» not able to speak a word. And then, I 
could not but say, and repeat, • God will deliver 
New England ! God will deliver New Eng- 
land !' So I rose from my knees with much 
comfort and assurance that God had heard me. 
Before I prayed, I was very sad, and much 
dejected in my spirit ; but after I had prayed, I 
was very cheerful and joyful. I will therefore 
wait for the salvation of God." Thus wrote 
Mr. Mather on the sixth of February ; and in 
the course of a few weeks it was ascertained, 
than on that very day king Charles died, and 
the coming of Kirke on his bloody errand to 
this country was entirely defeated. This ruth- 
less ruffian was thus retained in England, to 
contribute by his sanguinary violence there to 
bring hatred and exile on Charles' successor. 
Verily, there is a God that heareth prayer 
And the examples illustrative of this, occurring 
in our own early history, are scarcely exceeded 
by those recorded in the Scriptures. 

Charles II. was succeeded by his brother, 
James II., from whose stern, inflexible temper 
and lofty ideas of royal prerogative, the most 
gloomy presages of tyranny were derived. 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 101 

With melancholy solemnity he was proclaimed 
at Boston, in April, 1685. 

Soon after his accession, he appointed a 
provisional government for the provinces of 
Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, and 
New Plymouth, to be composed of a President 
and council selected from the inhabitants, whose 
functions were to continue till the establishment 
of a fixed and permanent system. At the head 
of this government was placed Joseph Dudley, 
a native of Massachusetts, who hitherto had 
enjoyed the favor of the citizens, but who from 
this time became, deservedly, an object of sus- 
picion. 

It was the misfortune of the provisional gov- 
ernment to give satisfaction to neither party. 
The colonists were indignant, to behold a sys- 
tem which had been erected on the ruin of their 
liberties administered by one of their own native 
born citizens ; while the king and his party 
(among whom was Randolph,) thought Dudley 
not sufficiently careful to carry out their schemes 
of arbitrary power. This government, therefore, 
was soon superseded ; and a governor and coun- 
cil were appointed by the king, who were to 
unite in themselves all legislative and executive 
authority. Kirke had been found too useful, as 
an instrument of terror in England, to be spared 
9* 



102 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

out of it ; and so Sir Edmund Andros was ap- 
pointed governor of the colonies. Dudley, the 
late President, was one of his council, and the 
infamous Edward Randolph, was his secretary. 
The administration of Andros continued a little 
more than two years ; and as he and his council 
were entrusted with arbitrary powers, so most 
arbitrarily did they use them. The writers of 
that day, when speaking of the course pursued, 
seem to lose all patience, and to labor for words 
in which to set forth adequately their sense of 
injury and of reprobation. " It would make a 
long and black story," says Cotton Mather, " to 
tell a tenth part of the vile things done by that 
scandalous crew, who then did what they 
pleased in the administration of the government. 
The honest members of the council were over- 
looked, brow-beaten, and rendered insignificant. 
Three or four finished villains did what they 
pleased ; there was no controlling of them." 

If any are disposed to abate somewhat from 
this representation, on the ground of excited 
feeling, we shall find that sober historians of a 
later day give us substantially the same account. 
" The weight of taxation," says Mr. Grahame, 
" was oppressively augmented, and the fees of 
all public functionaries screwed up to an enor- 
mous height. The ceremonial of marriage was 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 103 

altered, and the celebration of that rite confined 
to ministers of the church of England, of whom 
there was only one in the whole province of 
Massachusetts. The fasts and thanksgivings 
appointed by the churches, were suppressed by 
the governor, who maintained that the regula- 
tion of such matters belonged entirely to the 
civil power. He took occasion to remark re- 
peatedty, and with the most offensive insolence, 
in presence of the council, that the colonists 
would find themselves mistaken, if they sap- 
posed that the privileges of Englishmen followed 
them to the ends of the earth ; and that the only 
difference between their condition and that of 
slaves was, that they were not bought and sold. 
It was declared unlawful for the people to assem- 
ble in public meetings, or for any one to quit 
the province without a passport from, the gov- 
ernor ; and Randolph, now at the summit of 
his wishes, was not ashamed to boast in his 
private letters, that he and the governor were 
'as arbitrary as the Great Turk.'' While 
Andros mocked the people with the semblance 
of trial by jury, he contrived, by intrigue and 
partiality in the selection of jurymen, to wreak 
his vengeance on every person who offended 
him, and to screen the misdeeds of his own 
dependants from the punishment which they 



104 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

deserved. And, as if to heighten the discon- 
tent excited by such tyrannical proceedings, he 
took occasion to question the validity of the 
existing land titles, pretending that the rights 
acquired under the sanction of the old charter, 
were tainted with its vices and obnoxious to its 
fate. New grants or patents from the governor, 
it was announced, were requisite to mend the 
defective titles to land ; and writs of intrusion 
were issued against all who refused to apply 
for such patents, and to pay the exhorbitant fees 
that were charged for them." 

It was at this juncture that Sir William 
Phipps, a native and a devoted friend of New 
England, undertook to do something for the 
suffering colonists. Being a personal friend of 
James II., and now present at his court, he pro- 
cured for himself the office of high-sheriff of 
New England ; in the hope that, by remedying 
the abuses that were committed in the empan- 
neling of juries, he might create a barrier 
against the tyranny of Andros. But the gov- 
ernor and his creatures, incensed at this inter- 
ference, hired ruffians to attack Sir William 
Phipps, and soon compelled him to quit the coun- 
try. In short, our fathers of that day were not 
only called to give up their estates, but they 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 105 

were led seriously to consider whether their 
lives would be long secure. 

In the midst of all this distress and alarm, 
the people at length determined to send an agent 
to England, to lay their case at the feet of their 
Sovereign, and to implore protection and relief. 
And in looking round for a suitable person to 
whom to commit this responsible agency, all 
eyes seemed to rest on Mr. Mather. When the 
question of his going was submitted to him, he 
did as he was wont to do in similar cases : 
First, he carried the matter to God ; and, sec- 
ondly, to his church. The question was brought 
before the church in the following terms : " If 
you say to me, stay, I will stay ; but if you say, 
go, I will cast myself on the providence of God, 
and in his name I will go. I know not how to 
discern the mind of God, but by your inclina- 
tions." And to his surprise — such was the 
distress of the times, and the urgency of the 
occasion — his people unanimously consented to 
his departure. The probability is, that they had 
begun to have fears for his life, if he remained ; 
and they hoped that he might be an instrument 
of some deliverance to a land, that was in away 
to be overthrown and made desolate by stran- 
gers. 

But how was Mr. Mather to go ? The gov- 



106 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

emment, with all its facilities and resources, 
was in the hands of tyrants, who, so far from 
aiding, would certainly frustrate the proposed 
agency, if it lay in their power. The govern- 
ment did exert itself to the utmost to hinder Mr. 
Mather from going. It was to stop him, that 
the second action was brought against him for 
defaming Randolph in charging upon him the 
authorship of the forged letter ; but his friends 
secreted him from his pursuers, and at last sent 
him out of the country in disguise. 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 107 



CHAPTER VII. 

Mr. Mather arrives at London. Interviews with king James. Revo- 
lution in England, and in this country. Interviews with king 
William, and queen Mary. Despairs of the restoration of the 
former charter. Obtains a new one. Other services in England. 
Returns to Boston with Governor Phipps 

Mr. Mather arrived at London, May 25, 1688, 
in high hope that he should soon be able to 
effect something for his suffering countrymen. 
Five days afterwards, he had an interview with 
king James, and presented the address of his 
constituents, which was graciously accepted. 
Mr. Mather had four other meetings with the 
king, in the course of as many months, in all 
which, he received an abundance of good words 
and fair speeches, but nothing more. Indeed, 
it is highly probable, that while the king was 
putting off Mr. Mather with delusive promises, 
saying, " What you. desire, sir, is reasonable ; 
it shall be done, and done speedily;" he was 
actually plotting, as he admitted in one of his 
letters to the Pope, " to set up the Roman Cath- 



108 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

olic religion in the English provinces of North 
America." 

But the intrigues, the deceptions and usurpa- 
tions of James, were of short continuance. la 
November of this same year, (1688,) the happy 
revolution commenced, which exiled the reign- 
ing monarch, and placed William and Mary on 
the throne. 

This revolution in the mother country, was 
immediately followed by the overthrow of An- 
dros' government in Massachusetts. The peo- 
ple rose en masse ; took possession of an armed 
frigate, which had been stationed in Boston 
barbor, with a view to overawe them ; seized 
Andros, Dudley, Randolph, and some fifty of 
their oppressors, and committed them to prison ; 
established a temporary government, according 
to the provisions of the old charter, to be con- 
tinued until advices should be received from 
England ; replaced the venerable Governor 
Bradstreet, and the other magistrates, in the 
several offices from which they had been driven ; 
and revived throughout, so far as they were 
able, the former civil condition of the colony. 
Never was revolution more complete and satis- 
factory ; and all accomplished without violence 
— without the shedding of one drop of blood. 

In the month following, William and Mary 



LIFE OFINCREASE MATHER. 109 

were joyfully proclaimed in Boston ; and shortly 
after a letter was received from them, express- 
ing the royal sanction of the late proceedings in 
Massachusetts, and authorizing the present mag- 
istrates to retain the administration of the prov- 
incial government, until their Majesties, with 
the assistance of the privy council, should estab- 
lish it on a more permanent basis. An order 
was at the same time communicated, to send 
Andros and the other prisoners to England, that 
they might answer to the charges preferred 
against them. Two additional agents, Messrs. 
Elisha Cook, and Thomas Oakes, were deputed 
by the colony to join Mr. Mather in England, 
and endeavor, with him, to promote the interests 
of the colonies. 

Before the arrival of Messrs. Cook and Oakes, 
Mr. Mather had two interviews with King Wil- 
liam, on the subject of a renewal of the vacated 
charter. To effect this object, he also contrived 
to get a bill before Parliament, which actually 
passed the House of Commons. Great interest 
was made in the upper house, that when the 
bill should be received, it might be regarded 
with favor there. But before it could be carried 
through, Parliament was dissolved, and Mr. 
Mather had the mortification to find, that all his 
labor, thus far, had come to nothing. 

yol. v. 10 



110 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

It was soon evident, from the disposition of 
the next Parliament, that no favor was to be 
expected from it for New England. Mr. Ma- 
ther's next attempt was to bring the matter be- 
fore the courts, and effect his object through 
their instrumentality ; but here again he was 
defeated. Despairing now of the restoration of 
the former charter, the agents of the colony bent 
all their endeavors to the procuring of a neiv one, 
which should be acceptable to the people. In 
this, they were greatly assisted by several of the 
nobility ; such as Archbishop Tillotson, Bishop 
Burnet, the Earl of Monmouth, and especially 
the venerable Lord Wharton, the last surviving 
member of the famous Westminster Assembly. 
Archbishop Tillotson told the king, that " it 
would not look well for him to take from the 
good people of New England any of those priv- 
ileges which Charles I. had granted them." 
Lord Wharton said to his majesty ; " If I were 
sure to die tomorrow, I would, as I now do, ap- 
pear in behalf of New England, and solicit your 
favor to that religious country. The inhabitants 
of that country are a godly, conscientious peo- 
ple. There are proportionably more good men 
there, than in any part of the world. They do 
not ask your majesty for money, or for soldiers, 
or for any succors of this sort under their heavy 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. Ill 

difficulties, but merely for such a charter as 
shall secure their ancient privileges." During 
the king's absence in Holland, Mr. Mather had 
a long and highly satisfactory interview with 
the queen, who consented herself to write to her 
husband in behalf of New England. 

At length, after immense labor, and frequent 
disappointments and delays, the promised char- 
ter was finished, and put into the hands of the 
agents of the colony. And now another ques- 
tion arose : Whether the agents should accept 
the charter, or whether they should signify to 
the ministers of state, that they rather preferred 
no charter at all, than such an one as had been 
given them. This question was the more em- 
barrassing, because the agents were divided in 
opinion respecting it. 

As very much depended on the judgment of 
Mr. Mather, he was careful to act with deliber- 
ation. He took advice of many judicious per- 
sons, noblemen, gentlemen, divines, lawyers — 
men to be depended on as true friends of New 
England, who all said to him: " Take the pro- 
posed charter, and be thankful for it. If it is 
not every thing you wish, it is the best you can 
obtain, and altogether safer and better for you 
than none." Such was the opinion of Sir Hen- 
ry Ashurst, and Sir William Phipps, who, 



112 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

though not formally connected with the agency, 
were as deeply interested for New England as 
those who were. Such was the opinion of Mr. 
Mather ; and such was supposed to be the opin- 
ion of a large majority of the people of Massa- 
chusetts. They had suffered too much from the 
mere pleasure of a king, to be willing to trust 
it any farther, and preferred a written guaranty 
of their rights and privileges, although the in- 
strument might not be in all respects such as 
they would themselves have dictated. With 
great deference, therefore, the charter was ac- 
cepted, though in opposition to the wishes of 
Messrs. Cook and Oakes ,* and as the king 
granted to the agents the privilege of nominating 
the first governor, they were agreed in propos- 
ing for this high office that tried friend and na- 
tive of New England, Sir William Phipps. 

I have been thus particular in showing the 
agency of Mr. Mather in procuring the provin- 
cial charter, because, in a civil point of view, 
this was, perhaps, the most important transac- 
tion of his life. Still, the procuring of the char- 
ter was not all that this indefatigable servant of 
the public accomplished, during his residence in 
England. He watched over the interests of all 
the New England colonies, endeavored to pro- 
cure the restitution of their charters, and coun- 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 113 

teracted, so far as possible, the designs of their 
enemies. A design was on foot to unite the 
colony of Plymouth with New York. This was 
frustrated through the efforts of Mr. Mather, for 
which he received a letter of thanks from the 
general court of Plymouth. 

In England, as every where else, Mr. Mather 
deeply interested himself in the concerns of re- 
ligion. He was engaged in drawing up the 
well known " Heads of agreement between the 
Presbyterian and Congregational Churches " of 
England, and thus bringing about a closer union 
of these two separate bodies of Christians ; — 
an object which would not, probably, have been 
accomplished, had it not been for his visit to that 
country. For the interest which he took in this 
matter, he received a vote of thanks from the 
General Assembly of Presbyterians in Devon- 
shire, of which the celebrated John Flaval was 
moderator. 

Meanwhile, he was doing all in his power to 
promote the interests of Harvard College. He 
presented its claims before the king, and solicit- 
ed for it the patronage of nobles, and of other 
wealthy individuals. He was instrumental, if 
not of first turning the thoughts of Mr. Hollis 
towards the college, at least of encouraging and 
10* 



114 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

confirming him in his design of making it the 
object of his bounty. 

It should be added, that during the four years 
Mr. Mather remained in England, he served his 
country gratis. " I never demanded," says he, 
" the least farthing as a recompense for the time 
I spent ; and I procured donations to the prov- 
ince and the college, at least nine hundred 
pounds more than all the expenses of my agency 
came to." 

Having, with much labor, secured for his na- 
tive State a charter of government, (the best that 
could be secured) and having been honored with 
the nomination of the Governor, Lieutenant 
Governor, and the first Board of Council, who 
were to be appointed by the king, Mr. Mather 
left England, in company with the new Governor 
Phipps, in March, 1692, and arrived at Boston 
about the middle of May. The General Assembly 
was soon after convened, when " the Speaker, in 
the name of the House of Bepresentatives, re- 
turned him thanks, for his faithful, painful, inde- 
fatigable endeavors to serve the country." The 
House also " appointed a day of solemn thanks- 
giving to Almighty God through the province, 
for granting a safe return to his excellency, the 
Governor, and the Bev. Increase Mather, who 
have industriously endeavored the service of this 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHEK. 115 

people, and brought over with them a settlement 
of government, in which their Majesties have 
graciously given us distinguishing marks of their 
royal favor and goodness." 

It is not to be disguised, however, that there 
was a pretty strong party in the province, who 
were dissatisfied with the results of Mr. Mather's 
agency, and with him for his instrumentality in 
procuring them. Indeed, it had been the cus- 
tom of the colonists, or of a portion of them, from 
the first, to find fault with their agents to Eng- 
land. The agent not being able to accomplish 
all that the people expected or desired, the fault 
was laid at his own door. The grounds of the 
dissatisfaction with Mr. Mather's proceedings 
were various. Some in what had been the Ply- 
mouth colony were dissatisfied, because they 
were now united with Massachusetts. Some 
were dissatisfied, that in his nominations to of- 
fice, their names had been omitted ; showing that 
human nature.at that period, was not essentially 
different from what it is now. But the principal 
ground of dissatisfaction was the charter itself. 
It was not the old charter, which had been taken 
away ; and then it contained some restrictions 
on what were conceived to be popular rights, 
which, by the former charter were secured ; par- 
ticularly, the right of electing some of the 



116 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

higher officers of government from among them- 
selves. 

It admits not of a doubt, however, at the 
present day, that Mr. Mather acted wisely, in 
this most important business. The restoration 
of the former charter could not be obtained ; 
and if it could, without important modifications, 
it would not have been adapted to the altered 
and enlarged state of the colony. And had the 
agents returned without a charter, the way had 
been open for some second Andros to come and 
plunder, and distress the country. 

Mr. Mather assumed, indeed, a high respon- 
sibility, in consenting to act in so important a 
matter without the concurrence of his colleagues ; 
but the more credit is due to him on this account, 
and it belongs to posterity to award him this 
credit. It is impossible to conceive what New 
England might have been called to suffer, — 
what had been the fate of its churches, its 
schools, and its free institutions, had not the ven- 
erable Mather, with a far-sighted wisdom, and 
an unblanching firmness, seized the favorable 
opportunity, and accepted the charter which 
King William offered him. By this act, he 
lost somewhat of his former popularity, and ex- 
posed himself to no little reproach from a class 
of men — such as will be found, more or less, in 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 117 

every free country, — who prefer to find fault 
with the doings of others, rather than to incur 
responsibility themselves, and are fond of har- 
anguing, about popular privileges and rights ; 
bat he met the decided approbation of the wise 
and good among his cotemporaries ; while his- 
torians of a later date, and some who have not 
been disposed to mete out to him any thing 
more than even justice, have strongly approved 
of his conduct in this matter. 

The following extract of a letter to the General 
Court at Boston, signed by twelve of the dissent- 
ing ministers of London, among whom were 
William Bates, John Howe, Samuel Annesly, 
and Isaac Chancy, will show how the conduct 
of Mr. Mather was regarded at the time, on the 
other side of the water. " Some among you 
may wonder that there has been so long delay, 
before your charter was finished ; but if you con- 
sider the torrent of affairs in court, since the 
late revolution, it will lessen the wonder. The 
truth is, your affairs were so difficult and thorny, 
that the rare union of the wisdom of the serpent, 
and the innocence of the dove, was requisite, in 
the commissioners managing of them. A per- 
emptory refusal of any charter, but of an uniform 
tenor with the first, had been like too strong a 
medicine, which exasperates the disease, instead 



118 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

of curing it. In affairs of great importance, it is 
wisdom maturely to deliberate, and consider 
conditional events, and by the foresight of incon- 
veniences that will otherwise follow, to accept of 
such things as are best, in all their circumstan- 
ces. 

" We must, therefore, give this true testimony 
of our much esteemed and beloved brother, Mr. 
Increase Mather, that with inviolate integrity 
excellent prudence, and unfoAnting diligence, he 
hath managed the great business committed to 
his trust. As he is instructed in the school of 
heaven to minister in the affairs of the soul, so 
he is furnished with a talent to transact affairs 
of state. His proceedings have been with that 
caution and circumspection which is correspond- 
ent to the weight of his commission. He, with 
courage and constancy, has pursued the noble 
scope of his employment; and understanding 
the true moment of things, has preferred the 
public good to the vain conceits of some, that 
more might have been obtained, if peremptorily 
insisted on. 

" Considering the open opposition and secret 
arts that have been used to frustrate the best en- 
deavors for the interest of New England, the 
happy issue of these things is superior to our 
expectations. Your present charter secures lib- 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 119 

erty and property, the fairest flowers of the civil 
state ; and what is incomparably more valuable, 
it secures the enjoyment of the blessed gospel, 
in its purity and freedom. Although there is a 
restraint of your power in some things that were 
granted in your former charter, yet there are 
more ample privileges in other things that may 
be of perpetual advantage to the colony. 

" We doubt not your faithful agent will re- 
ceive a gracious reward from above ; and we 
hope his successful service will be welcomed 
with your entire approbation and grateful accept- 
ance. We now, with ardent affection, recom- 
mend our dear brother to the Divine mercy, that 
through such dangerous seas he may safely 
arrive at his desired place. And we earnestly 
pray that the blessing of Heaven may be always 
upon your colony ; that by the light and power 
of the gospel, the prince of darkness may be 
expelled from his ancient dominions, and the 
kingdom of our Saviour may be established and 
enlarged, by the accession of the American 
heathen to be his inheritance." Thus far the 
London Dissenting ministers, who at that period 
felt an interest in New England almost as great 
as though they had been members of the colony. 

President Quincy, in his late history of Har- 
vard University, thus speaks of the efforts of 



120 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

Mr. Mather, on this occasion. " Whatever 
opinions we may be compelled to entertain con- 
cerning his measures and motives at other times, 
his conduct, in this great crisis of his country, 
entitles him to unqualified approbation. It is 
scarcely possible for a public agent to be placed 
in circumstances more trying and critical, nor 
could any one have exhibited more sagacity and 
devotedness to the true interests of his constitu- 
ents. By his wisdom and firmness in acceding 
to the new charter, and thus assuming a respon- 
sibility of the weightiest kind, in opposition to 
his colleagues in the agency, he saved his coun- 
try, apparently, from a rebellion, or a revolution, 
or from having a constitution imposed by the 
will of the transatlantic sovereign, and possibly 
at the point of the bayonet." — (Vol. I, p. 123.) 

While Mr. Mather was abroad, he rarely 
omitted preaching on the Sabbath ; for which he 
would accept no compensation, other than to 
engage the ministers to perform good offices for 
his country. He was particularly attached to 
the celebrated Dr. Bates of Hackney, for whom 
he preached regularly once a month, and with 
whose church he statedly partook of the Lord's 
supper. 

He became intimately acquainted, also, with 
Mr. Baxter, now an old man, and had the satis- 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 121 

faction to visit him on his death-bed. In proof 
of the estimation in which he was held by Mr. 
Baxter, it may be mentioned, that this venerable 
man dedicated to him one of his latest publica- 
tions, and in generous confidence made this re- 
quest of him : " If, sir, you find errors in any of 
my writings, I charge you to confute them, after 
I am dead." 

During Mr. Mather's absence from Boston, 
his ministerial duties were faithfully discharged 
by his son and colleague, Cotton Mather. At 
the same time, the college, of which he was 
president, was committed to the care and instruc- 
tion of Mr. John Leverett, and Mr. William 
Brattle, tutors. 



vol. v. 11 



122 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Mr. Mather writes on the subject of Witchcraft. Opposes innova- 
tions in church order. His exertions for Harvard College. Hia 
connection with it dissolved. His character as President. Fare- 
well address to the students. 

Mr. Mather and Governor Phipps arrived in 
this country, in the midst of the famous excite- 
ment respecting witchcraft. The delusion had 
now been in progress several months, many- 
were suffering from the supposed witches, while 
other many had been accused and imprisoned as 
the authors of the mischief. One of the first 
acts of the new governor was to institute a court 
for the trial of the accused ; and one of the first 
acts of Mr. Mather was to write a book, with a 
view to allay the excitement, to expose false tests 
of innocence or guilt, and to refute a kind of 
spectral evidence, on which many were likely 
to be put to death. I shall have occasion to re- 
fer to Mr. Mather's agency in this matter, in 
another place. Suffice it to say here, that the 
publication which he issued was eminently sea- 
sonable, and was followed with the best results. 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 123 

Upon the appearance of it, says his son, "the 
governor pardoned such as had been condemned, 
the confessors came, as it were, out of a dream 
wherein they had been fascinated, and many of 
the afflicted grew easy." 

Mr. Mather was a strenuous supporter of the 
established faith and order of the New England 
churches ; and when innovations were at any 
time attempted, they met from him a determined 
resistance. Near the close of the seventeenth 
century, an attempt was made to do away with 
the established practice of requiring of persons 
admitted to the Lord's table a particular account 
of their religious experience. The Rev. Wil- 
liam Brattle, of Cambridge, was one of the pro- 
moters of this innovation. It was followed in a 
little time by the doctrine, openly promulgated 
by Mr. Stoddard and others, that evidence of re- 
generation is not to be required of candidates for 
the holy supper. This, Mr. Mather regarded as 
a very dangerous error, and opposed to it the 
whole weight of his influence and exertions. 
He wrote a preface to his son's life of Mitchell, 
in which he not only says, but proves by a vari- 
ety of argument, that " doctrinal knowledge and 
outward blamelessness are not sufficient qualifi- 
cations for admission to the church ; but that 
practical confessions, or some relation of the work 



124 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

of conversion, are necessary." He would not 
have churches shut themselves up to this or that 
particular manner of obtaining satisfaction. It 
may be done orally, or in writing. It may be 
done by question and answer, or by a continuous 
narrative. But satisfaction should, in some 
way, be obtained. " Churches are bound in 
duty to inquire, not only into the knowledge and 
orthodoxy, but into the spiritual estate of those 
whom they receive to full communion in all the 
ordinances of Christ." At a later period, Mr. 
Mather engaged in controversy with Mr. Stod- 
dard^ on the terms of communion, or of admission 
to the church of Christ, showing, with great 
clearness and force, the unscriptural character 
of the views he advocated, and their dangerous 
bearing on the churches of New England. 

Time has abundantly verified the correctness 
of Mr. Mather's conclusions, in relation to this 
subject. The doctrine and practice of Mr. 
Stoddard prevailed extensively for a season, till 
they were encountered and refuted, a hundred 
years ago, by his successor and grandson, Presi- 
dent Edwards. The churches which then 
adopted the Edwardean views, or (which is the 
same,) came back to the ground of the early 
fathers of New England, together with those 

* Mr. Stoddard, it will be recollected, was Mr. Mather's brother-in* 
law, having married his brother Eleazer's widow. See chap. I. 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 125 

which have since sprung out of them, constitute 
in general, the Orthodox Congregational church- 
es of the present day ; while those which per- 
sisted in the Stoddardean views, became,with few 
exceptions, first Arminian, and then Unitarian. 
About the same time with the controversy 
respecting terms of communion, another innova- 
tion was attempted, if indeed it be another, at 
which Mr. Mather was greatly troubled. It was 
the abandonment, by particular churches, of 
their separate, independent action, in the choice 
of their pastors, and their consenting to vote 
only in connection with the congregations. In 
the year 1697, the church of which Mr. Mather 
was pastor, sent " a letter of admonition to the 
church in Charlestown, for betraying the liber- 
ties of the churches, by putting into the hands 
of the whole inhabitants, the choice of a minis- 
ter." The same year, measures were taken for 
founding the church in Brattle square, Boston, 
expressly excluding the distinct action of the 
church in the choice of a minister, and disclaim- 
ing " the requisition of any public relation of 
experiences, or any other examination than by 
the pastor," as the condition of being admitted 
to the Lord's supper. The Rev. Benjamin 
Colman, then a young man, and in England, 
was invited to become the first pastor of this 
11* 



126 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

church ; and so confident were those who in- 
vited him, that he could not be ordained over it 
in this country, that they advised him to obtain 
ordination in England. 

The leaders in this innovation, were Thomas 
Brattle, Esq., of Boston, Rev. William Brattle, 
of Cambridge, and Hon. John Leverett, after- 
wards president of Harvard College. I am the 
more particular in mentioning names, because I 
shall have occasion to refer to them again. The 
transaction was one which not only interested 
the feelings, and distressed the heart of Mr. 
Mather at the time, but it materially affected 
his situation afterwards. At the request and 
through the mediation of neighboring minis- 
ters and others, the members of the new church 
consented to modify very considerably their 
original plan, so that Mr. Mather met with them 
at the dedication of their house of worship, and 
even consented to preach on the occasion. Still, 
he was not satisfied with their proceedings, and 
he took occasion to express his dissatisfaction, 
in a treatise, published in the year 1700, enti- 
tled, " The Order of the Gospel professed by 
the Churches of New England, Justified." This 
gave rise to a reply, and that to a rejoinder, in 
which more heat and bitterness were manifested 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 127 

on both sides, than comport with our notions of 
clerical decency and propriety. 

Mr. Mather, however, was not alone in his 
anxieties, at this time. Others besides him were 
induced to speak out, and to utter a solemn note 
of warning to those who were bent upon depart- 
ing from the established customs of the church- 
es. It was at this time, that the venerable 
Higginson, of Salem, and Hubbard, of Ipswich, 
published their joint "Testimony to the order 
of the Gospel in the Churches of New Eng- 
land," — in which they say : " If any who are 
given to change, do rise up, to unhinge the well- 
established order of the churches in this land, 
it will be the duty and interest of the churches 
to examine, whether the men of this trespass 
are more prayerful, more watchful, more zeal- 
ous, more patient, more heavenly, more univer- 
sally conscientious, and harder students, and 
better scholars, and more willing to be informed 
and advised, than those great and good men 
who left unto the churches what they now en- 
joy. If they be not so, it will be wisdom for 
the children to forbear pulling down, with their 
own hands, the houses of God which were built 
by their wiser fathers, until they have better 
satisfaction. It is not yet forgotten by some 
surviving ear-witnesses, that when the Synod 



128 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

had finished the Platform of Church Discipline, 
(A. D. 1648,) they did, with an extraordinary 
elevation of soul and voice, then sing together 
The song of Moses ', the servant of God, and the 
song of the Lamb, in the fifteenth chapter of the 
Revelations. God forbid, that in the loss of 
that holy discipline, there should hereafter be 
occasion to sing about breaking down the carved 
work of the house of God with axes and ham- 
mers, or to take up the eightieth Psalm for 
our lamentation." 

Although the controversy here referred to, so 
far subsided, as to occasion no palpable breach 
of fellowship between those concerned in it, still, 
a degree of coldness and distance was observa- 
ble, and they seem to have been the objects of 
mutual suspicion and jealousy, during the great- 
er part of their lives. ^ This was the more un- 
happy for Mr. Mather, because those whose 
measures he had felt constrained to oppose, 
were the men chiefly concerned, at least for a 
time, in the direction and government of Har- 
vard College. 

The same year in which Mr. Mather returned 



* This controversy, it will be recollected, was not about doctrines, 
but related only to questions of ecclesiastical order and discipline. 
Dr. Eliot tells us, that " the friendship between Dr. Colman and 
Cotton Mather, was renewed, several years before the latter died, 
and then they wondered how they had disagreed so long." 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 



129 



from England, (1692,) he prepared a charter 
for the college, which received the approbation 
of the governor, and the sanction of the general 
court. It was afterwards vetoed by the king ; 
but while it continued in force, and the corpora- 
tion had authority, under it, to confer honorary 
degrees, they conferred on him the degree of 
Doctor of Divinity. It is remarkable, that this 
degree had never before been conferred in 
British America ; nor was it conferred again, 
until almost eighty years afterwards, it was 
bestowed on the Rev. Samuel Mather, (grand- 
son of Increase,) and on the Rev. Nathaniel 
Appleton, of Cambridge. 

Repeated attempts were made, during the 
next seven or eight years, to procure a charter 
for the college, which should receive the sanc- 
tion of the king ; and in more than one instance, 
President Mather seemed on the point of em- 
barking for England, with a view to the further- 
ance of this important object. But for one 
cause or another, all these attempts failed, and 
the college continued in an unsettled and em- 
barrassed state. 

During the troubles of this period, President 
Mather proposed repeatedly to resign his office ; 
but the proposition was discouraged and resisted 
by the corporation. It was an object with the 



130 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER, 

General Court to induce him to resign his pas- 
toral charge, and reside at Cambridge ; but he 
could not be satisfied that this was his duty. 
To gratify the friends of the college, he did 
remove to Cambridge for a few months ; but 
neither he nor his family seem to have been 
happy, nor were his people willing that he 
should be taken from them. Consequently, he 
soon returned to Boston. 

It was this question of residence, which finally 
closed his connection with the college. He 
seems not properly to have resigned his office, 
but on his refusing to reside at Cambridge, the 
duties of it passed out of his hands, ^ and de- 
volved on those of Rev. Samuel Willard, who 
was appointed vice-president. 

That Dr. Mather was faithful and successful 
in the office of President, notwithstanding the 
many disadvantages under which the office was 
sustained, is testified by all who have written 
on the subject. Mr. Peirce, in his valuable his- 
tory of Harvard University, says : " Dr. Math- 
er's services at the college were assiduous and 
faithful. The moral and religious instruction 



* The general assembly passed a vote, that no man should act as 
President of the college, icho did not reside at Cambridge. Mr. 
Mather did not think it his duty to reside there. Consequently, hia 
connection with the college ceased. 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 131 

of the students had his particular attention. 
The college appears to have been in a flourish- 
ing condition, while he was at its head. Its 
numbers increased, and it was enriched, in no 
small degree, by the hand of munificence." 
Page 64. 

President Quincy also says : " That Dr. 
Mather was well qualified for the office of 
President, and had conducted himself in it faith- 
fully and laboriously, is attested by the history 
of the college, the language of the legislature, 
and the acknowledgment of his cotemporaries." 
Vol. I. p. 116. 

He was vigilant and faithful in the govern- 
ment of college, requiring a strict conformity to 
wholesome laws, and firmly resisting all at- 
tempts at insubordination. He was particularly 
concerned for the spiritual welfare of his pupils. 
He preached to them every week, often ex- 
pounded to them the Scriptures, advised them 
as to what books they should read, and caution- 
ed them against such as he considered hurtful. 
He used frequently to send for them into the 
library, and there pray and converse with them 
separately, warning them of the terrible conse- 
quences of continued impenitence, and charging 
them to turn from their sins and live. Not a 
few of them, we are assure^, " will bless God 



132 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER, 

all their days for these admonitions, and will 
never forget the words that quickened them." 

In June, 1701, Dr. Mather preached a fare- 
well sermon to his pupils, from Colossians 3 : 
11. " Christ is all, and in all" In the con- 
clusion of his discourse, he thus addressed them : 
" Unto you that are students in the college, and 
more especially unto such of you as are (what 
most of you are) designed for the work of the 
ministry, the advice which I now leave is this : 

" 1. Let the glorifying of the Lord Jesus 
Christ, and not any worldly considerations, 
induce you to devote yourselves to the evangeli- 
cal ministry. True, it is an honorable calling 
upon which you are entering. To be ambassa- 
dors of the King of kings, is to be in an honora- 
ble station. But you must not propose the 
honors of this world, in what you undertake. 
No, but expect rather to be despised and rejected 
of men, and to have all manner of indignities 
heaped upon you. As little may you propose 
the riches of this world. The low and mean 
intention of getting a living must not be the 
chief thing in your eye. You may, no doubt, 
gain much more wealth, by betaking yourselves 
to some other employments ; while in that of 
the ministry, poverty, narrow and humbling 
circumstances, and grievous defraudations from 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 133 

an unthankful people, are what you may look 
for. You must count it honor enough, and 
riches enough, if Christ may have service from 
you. The special advantages to serve Christ, 
which ministers have above other men, — let 
these be the honor and the riches on which 
your hearts are mainly set. 

" 2. Let your sermons be full of Christ. Ser- 
mons full of self and made for the ostentation 
of your own learning; are these the sacrifices 
with which God is well pleased ? The sermons 
of the Apostles were not such. No; they could 
say, ' ^|Le preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus 
the Lord.' Paul ' preached those things which 
concern the Lord Jesus Christ.' Alas, there 
are preachers in this world, who have little of 
Christ in their sermons. A morality, without 
the gospel of Christ — nothing higher than what 
may be met with in a Cicero, a Seneca, an 
Epictetus, a Plutarch, is to be found there. 
They would think it a disparagement unto their 
sermons to have the name of Christ often men- 
tioned in them. How unlike are such to that 
pattern preacher, who has the name of Christ 
no less than ten times, in the ten first verses of 
his first Epistle to the Corinthians ? There is 
matter enough in the very name Christ, to be 
the subject of your meditation, all your days. 

vol. v. 12 



134 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

Do not then neglect to preach on the glories, the 
person, the offices, the actions, and the benefits 
of Christ, and of the interest he has in every 
article of our religion. Know the truth, as it is 
in Jesus. Hence, 

" 3. Have an eye still to Christ, when you 
are preaching on other subjects. Other subjects 
are to be preached upon ; but Christ is to be the 
end and the aim of all. The evil of sin is to be 
preached upon, and so is the misery of man 
fallen by sin ; but it must be to lead your hear- 
ers unto Christ, who alone is mighty to save. 
The moral law is to be preached upon, as the 
rule of our obedience ; and so are the duties of 
piety, equity, and charity. But the example 
of Christ, obeying the law, and a leaning upon 
him for assistance and acceptance in all we do, 
is always to accompany these subjects. Re- 
member, that the life of your preaching will be 
in proportion to what there is of Christ, who is 
the Life, shining through it. 

" If, my beloved pupils, you do thus glorify 
Christ, God, even his eternal Father, will glorify 
you. For there is nothing so dear to him, as 
the Son of his love. Christ is dearer to the Fa- 
ther, than all the men on the earth, and all the 
angels in heaven. Christ is dearer to him than 



LIFE OP INCREASE MATHER. 335 

all the worlds he has ever made ; since it is for 
him that he has made them all. God delights 
exceedingly to see Christ glorified ; and if this 
be what your hearts are set upon, he will re- 
ward you openly and abundantly. You will 
have this reward among the rest — the Holy Spirit 
breathing powerfully in your ministry. The 
Spirit of truth will glorify me, saith the Saviour. 
The blessed Spirit will sadly withdraw from a 
ministry that has not a Christ animating it. He 
will own and honor that ministry in which 
Christ is truly and faithfully preached. 

" And now, my children, what shall I more 
say to you ? I hope that, as to many of you (O 
that it might be all !) I shall meet you with joy 
at the right hand of Christ, in the great day of 
his Appearing and kingdom. But if any of you 
prove so miserable as to die in your sins, and in 
a Christless condition, I protest unto you this 
day, that I shall testify against you before the 
Lord Jesus Christ, that I have called upon you, 
both publicly and privately, to make sure of an 
interest in him. I am pure, therefore, from the 
blood of your souls. If any of you (which may 
infinite mercy prevent,) shall die in your sins, 
your blood will be upon your own heads." 

Thus were the students of Harvard College 



136 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

addressed, by their President, almost one hun- 
dred and fifty years ago. Where shall we look 
for words more fitly spoken ? When shall the 
members of that venerable seminary be addressed 
in like manner again ? 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 137 



CHAPTER IX. 

Life of Dr. Mather subsequent to his resigning the Presidency. His 
habits as a student. His liberality. His gentlemanly manners. 
His character as a preacher. His solemn testimony. His humility 
and penitence. His last sickness, death, funeral, &c. 

Dr. Mather's connection with the college ceased, 
as we have seen, A. D. 1701. After this he 
lived about twenty-two years, during the greater 
part of which time he performed his ministerial 
duties much as usual, and continued to take a 
watchful interest in every thing which concerned 
church and state. In this time also, and in ad- 
dition to all his other labors, he issued from the 
press not far from fifty distinct publications, the 
most of them on important practical subjects. 

I have said that, during this latter portion of 
his life, Dr. Mather exercised his ministry much 
as usual. When he had been settled forty-nine 
years, he preached a Jubilee sermon ; and as the 
servants in Israel were released at the Jubilee, 
so he requested a release from any further pub- 
lic labors. But his people set too high a value 
on his services, to consent to such a proposition 
12* 



138 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

At a later period, they kindly voted, that "the 
labors of the pulpit should be expected from him 
only when he found himself able and inclined to 
perform them." Still, he actually did preach 
frequently and powerfully, to the very last year 
of his life. 

Dr. Mather was an indefatigable student, all 
his days. Indeed, prayer and study may be said 
to have constituted his principal business. His 
people sometimes complained that they saw so 
little of him in their families, and from the fol- 
lowing account of the manner in which he ordi- 
narily spent his time, we think their complaints 
were not without reason. " In the morning, 
repairing to his study, he deliberately read a 
chapter, and offered prayer, and then plied what 
of reading and writing he had before him. At 
nine o'clock he came down, read a chapter, and 
made a prayer with his family ; after which he 
returned to the work of the study. Coming 
down to dinner, he quickly went up again, and 
commenced the afternoon with another prayer ; 
when he went on with his studies till evening. 
The studies of the evening were commenced 
with another prayer, and went on till nine 
o'clock. Then he came down to his family sac- 
rifices. From these, he again repaired to the 
study, where he continued, often, till after mid- 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 139 

night. The studies of the day were always 
closed with prayer. Sixteen hours of the four 
and twenty were commonly spent after this man- 
ner in the study." 

Not a few, on reading this account, will won- 
der how the subject of it lived to the long period 
of eighty-four years. Most ministers, with so 
little relaxation and exercise, would have died of 
dyspepsia or hypochondria, in one sixth part of 
the time. But if Dr. Mather could live and en- 
joy health, none need wonder at the interest 
which continued to be felt in his publications and 
pulpit performances. His intellectual machinery 
never grew rusty from disuse. He not only 
kept up with his age, but kept in advance of it. 
Younger men might study as hard, and preach 
as well as they could ; he studied harder, and 
preached better. To all the advantages of in- 
tellectual progress and new discoveries and im- 
provements, in respect to which he was on a par 
with them, he added the more important advan- 
tages of a long experience, which were beyond 
their reach. In this way, Dr. Mather continued 
to bear fruit in old age ; and his example is one 
of great importance to ministers and others, as 
they approach the evening of life. Most old 
men lay off their armor, and retire from the du- 
ties of active life too soon. They conclude pre- 



140 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

maturely that their work is done, and their 
usefulness ended. There is no reason why 
clergymen, who enjoy good health, should not 
be better ministers, and more useful preachers, 
between the ages of fifty and seventy, than be- 
tween those of thirty and fifty. Let them study, 
if not as closely as Dr. Mather, enough at least 
to be even with their age, and in advance of it ; 
let them keep up their interest in the concerns 
of the church and world, and their habits of ac- 
tivity and usefulness ; more especially, let them 
grow, as did the venerable man of whom we are 
speaking, in prayerfulness and heavenly mind- 
edness ; and there will be little danger of their 
becoming stale and neglected. They will, like 
him, bear fruit in old age, and their labors will 
be appreciated and blessed. 

Dr. Mather, like most other ministers, was 
little burthened with this world's goods ; but in 
the use of what he had, he was truly liberal. 
He was so, on strictly Christian principles. He 
believed that, as God has reserved a seventh 
part of our time to be devoted more especially to 
his service, so he has required a tenth part of 
our substance. Accordingly, he constantly de- 
voted a tithe of his income to pious and charita- 
ble uses. This, he held, was the least which a 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 141 

Christian could in conscience do. He often did 
much more than this. 

That habit of prayerfulness and communion 
with God, in which Dr. father so uniformly- 
lived, imparted to him, not sternness and sever- 
ity of manner, but a remarkable seriousness and 
gravity. He lived, and he seemed to live, as 
seeing him who is invisible. His very presence 
was a rebuke and a check to every thing border- 
ing upon indecency or levity. 

Still, he was distinguished above most men of 
his age for ease and gentleness of manner, or for 
what may be denominated true Christian cour- 
tesy. It is required of a bishop, in the Script- 
ures, that he be " of good behavior. " Dr. 
Goodwin interprets this to mean, that he " must 
not be slovenly, nor of such an unmannerly car- 
riage as to bring his calling into contempt. He 
must avoid all that rudeness that flows from ill 
nature, or ill nurture, and be of such a modest, 
comely, pleasing behavior as to render him fit 
for the company of gentlemen." Such, pre- 
eminently, was Dr. Mather. Recluse as he was 
at some periods, he had mingled much with the 
world at others. He had frequented the best 
company, both in this country and in Europe. 
It had been his lot to stand before kings. And 
it is testified of him that " he was of a very 



142 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

pleasing behavior, full of gravity, but exhibiting 
the carriage and neatness of a gentleman." 

In point of learning, Dr. Mather exceeded all 
the New England fathers, with the single ex- 
ception of Cotton Mather, his son. But though 
less learned than his son, and possessing less 
exuberance of fancy, he had more sound, practi- 
cal judgment — more common sense. His pub- 
lications many of them are still extant. The 
style will compare with that of the best authors 
of the seventeenth century. 

As a preacher, Dr. Mather was at the head of 
his profession in this country. I question, in- 
deed, whether he had many superiors in the 
English nation. His discourses were eminently 
scriptural. " God's word," he said, " is the food 
of souls, and the more there is of that pertinently 
introduced, the better fed will be the flock." His 
manner in preaching was elevated, often elo- 
quent, yet always plain to the humblest capacity. 
" His aim was, not to shoot over the heads of 
his hearers, but into their hearts. He concealed 
every other art, that he might the better practice 
the one single art of being intelligible. 

He used no notes in preaching, to the very 
last. He was not opposed to the use of notes, 
but only to the servile reading of them. "He 
would have more speaking, and less reading, in 



LIFE OP INCREASE MATHER. 143 

our sermons. He would have the preacher be 
so much of an orator, that the appropriate vigor 
and address of a sermon might not be lost." 

In delivery, he was grave and deliberate, but 
not monotonous. He had a commanding voice, 
and he used it often with great effect. The em- 
phatical clauses and sentences were delivered, 
says his son, " with such a tonitruous cogency, 
that the hearers were struck with awe, like that 
produced by the fall of thunderbolts." 

I only add, that Dr. Mather's ministry was a 
prayerful one. • He continually sought the Di- 
vine director in the choice of his subjects, and as 
to the manner in which he should treat them. 
He always went from his knees to the pulpit ; 
and the first thing, on his return from the pulpit, 
was to give thanks for the assistance he had en- 
joyed, and ask a blessing on the truths he had 
delivered. 

A few months before Dr. Mather's death, he 
prepared a written testimony, as to the design of 
the pilgrims in settling this country, and the ob- 
ligations that were resting upon their descend- 
ants, to see this design carried out and consum- 
mated. " I am now," says he, " in the eighty 
fourth year of my age, and am every hour wait- 
ing and longing for my dismission to a better 
world. In these very solemn circumstances, I 



144 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

am willing to add my testimony ; and I do here- 
by declare, that the principal design upon which 
these colonies were first planted, was to profess, 
and practice, and enjoy, with undisturbed liberty, 
the holy religion of God our Saviour, as exhib- 
ited in the sacred Scriptures, and rescued from 
the inventions and abuses which the man of sin 
has introduced ; also, to set up churches for our 
Lord Jesus Christ, that shall keep themselves 
loyal to him, their glorious King, receiving his 
word as their only standard and law. It was 
equally designed by those followers of the 
Lord into this wilderness, that the pure and un- 
defined religion delivered unto us in the Script- 
ures, and exhibited afterwards in our confession 
of faith, should be continually preached, and the 
doctrines of grace particularly asserted, by min- 
isters of good abilities, godliness, and watchful- 
ness, freely and fairly chosen by the churches 
whereof they are the pastors. It belongs also to 
these churches to be so constituted, as manifestly 
to exhibit the kingdom of heaven unto the world, 
both debarring from their communion such ig- 
norant and scandalous persons as are to be shut 
out from the city of God, and admitting all those 
(though of different persuasions about lesser 
points,) of whom it may be judged, that Christ 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 145 

has received them to the glory of God. Our 
foundation is in these holy mountains. 

" It is now the dying wish of one that has 
been about three score and six years, after a poor 
manner, but I hope with some sincerity, serving 
the best of masters in the blessed work of the 
gospel, that these churches may standfast in the 
faith and order of the gospel, and holdfast what 
they have received^ that no man take their crown ; 
and that the pastors would more distinctly, and 
with proper inculcations, from time to time, ac- 
quaint the churches with their true interest, and 
those things which will be for their beauty and 
safety. It is also my desire, as one who has 
sustained for many years the office of President, 
that the tutors in our colleges, from which the 
churches expect their supplies, would see to it 
that the students are well informed in those 
points which it most concerns them to know, 
that so the work of God among us may not be 
marred, by falling into unskillful and unfaithful 
hands. 

11 Indeed, I cannot but go the way of all the 
earth rejoicing, that the means which have been 
so indefatigably used for drawing away unwary 
people into the things that will not profit them, 
have hitherto had so little success ; and that the 
body of the more sober people throughout the 

vol. v. 13 



146 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

country continue to discover so strong an aver- 
sion to those things, from the face of which their 
fathers fled into this wilderness. But there may 
be danger of another generation rising up, which 
will not know the Lord, nor the works done by 
him and for him, among his people here. I 
therefore, from the suburbs of that glorious world 
into which I am now entering, do earnestly tes- 
tify unto the rising generation, that if they sin- 
fully forsake the God, the hope, and the religious 
ways of their pious ancestors, the glorious Lord 
vnll severely punish their apostasy, and be ter- 
rible unto them from his holy places. 

" The Lord our God be with you, as he was 
with your fathers. Let him not leave you, nor 
forsake you. And now, Lord, let thy work ap- 
pear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their 
children, and establish thou the ivork of our hands 
upon us ; yea, the work of our hands establish 
thou it." 

It is a remarkable fact in the experience of 
good men, that the more they grow in knowl- 
edge and in grace, the more they grow in hu- 
mility, in penitence, and in deep and affecting 
views of their own unworthiness. So it was 
with Job. " I have heard of thee by the hear- 
ing of the ear, but now mine eyes seeth thee ; 
wherefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 



147 



ashes." So it was with Isaiah. " Woe is me, 
for I am undone ; for I am a man of unclean 
lips " So it was with the apostle Paul. " O 
wretched man that I am ; who shall deliver me 
from the body of this death !" The experience 
of Dr. Mather was very similar to that here re- 
ferred to. Though one of the most blameless of 
men in all his demeanor, so far as the eyes of 
others could follow him, yet through his whole 
life, and more especially in the latter part of it, 
we hear him complaining of his indwelling cor- 
ruptions, and of his not keeping his thoughts 
and heart as he desired. In his diary, he con- 
stantly charges himself with remaining iniqui- 
ties, unfruitfulness, pride, worldliness, and a 
great unmeetness for the service and the king- 
dom of God. "Alas, how unfruitful am 1. 
How do I misspend my time ! How do I ever 
cumber the ground!" His sins were "such a 
sorrow and burthen to him, that they exceedingly 
reconciled him to the dying hour, which he al- 
ways spoke of with sensible transport, when that 
advantage of it came to be mentioned : Rever 

sin any more:'' 

I have said that growing Christians are usu- 
ally characterized by a growing sense of person- 
al unworthiness. This fact may seem strange 
to some ; still, it is one not hard to be accounted 



14S LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

for. As the Christian learns more of the extent 
and purity of God's law, he discovers more of 
the number and magnitude of his transgressions. 
As he sees more clearly the beauty and excel- 
lency of holiness, he feels more deeply the de- 
filement and the guilt of sin. He finds new 
sources of evil opening in his heart, and points 
of duty before unobserved, and of course neg- 
lected, rise up to view and require attention. 
And thus, while he is improving in all goodness, 
he seems to himself often to be deteriorating. 
He seems to remain at a vast and increasing 
distance from that point of perfection towards 
which he aims. 

Dr. Mather's last sickness was a very distress- 
ing one, affecting the mind as well as the body. 
He had occasional seasons of darkness and de- 
pression, — the result, doubtless, of disease, — 
when doubts and fears obtruded themselves upon 
him, lest, peradventure, he should be deceived 
at the last. But in times of the greatest dark- 
ness, "he still discovered such a holy solicitude, 
that he might not in anything dishonor God, nor 
lose his hold of the blessed Jesus, nor break the 
resolution which he had made seventy years 
before, and on which he now looked back with 
unspeakable consolation, as was altogether to be 
preferred to those joys of impulse with which 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 149 

some, in their dying moments, are transported." 
It has been well determined by the best judges, 
11 that going to heaven#in the way of repentance, 
is much safer and surer than in the way of ex- 
tasy." 

Still, the pathway of Dr. Mather through the 
valley of the shadow of death was not all dark. 
Occasionally the clouds were scattered, and he 
was enabled to rejoice, in hope of the glory that 
was so soon to be revealed. He very often said, 
" The infinite mercy of God, and the infinite 
merit of Christ, keep me above all discourage- 
ment. " These words of Christ were also a 
comfort to him : " Where I am, there shall my 
servant be." He delighted to read and ponder 
the seventy-first Psalm. " O God, thou hast 
taught me from my youth, and hitherto have I 
declared thy wondrous works. Now also, when 
I am old and gray-headed, O God, forsake me 
not. I will make mention of thy righteousness, 
even of thine only." 

During his last sickness, Dr. Mather received 
a message from his excellent friend, Mr. Thomas 
Hollis of London, inquiring whether he were 
yet in the land of the living. To this he re- 
plied : " Tell him I am not in the land of the 
living, but am going to it. This poor world is 
13=* 



150 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

the land of the dying. Heaven only is the true 
land of the living." ' 

The last morning of his life, says Cotton Ma- 
ther, "perceiving that his dying agonies were 
now upon him, I did what I could to strengthen 
him with such quickening words as the lively 
oracles have provided for such occasions. As it 
grew towards noon, I said to him : ' Sir, the 
messenger has now come to tell thee, " This day 
shalt thou be with me in Paradise." Do you 
believe it, sir, and rejoice in the views and the 
hopes of it V He replied, 'Oyes, I do I I do I I 
do V And with these words he died in my 
arms." 

His death occurred August 23, 1723. His 
disease, like that of his father, was the stone, 
from which, for several successive weeks, he had 
suffered intensely. On the seventh day after 
his death, he was interred, with all the honors 
due to his character, and to the rank he had so 
long held in society. Governor Dummer, Chief 
Justice Sewall, President Leverett, and three of 
the principal ministers, bore the pall. Not less 
than fifty ministers, one hundred and sixty stu- 
dents and alumni of college, and a train of citi- 
zens and spectators that could not be numbered, 
followed him to his grave. The funeral sermon 
was preached by Eev. Mr. Foxcroft, one of the 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 



151 



pastors of the first church, from 2 Chron. 24: 
15, 16, "He was full of days, when he died; 

and they buried him in the city 

of David, among the kings, because he had done 
good in Israel, both towards God and towards 
his house." 

Dr. Mather was eighty-four years old when 
he died. He had been a preacher sixty-six 
years, during almost "sixty of which he was pas- 
tor of the Old North Church in Boston. Dr. 
Eliot speaks of him as " the father of the New 
England clergy, whose name and character were 
held in veneration, not only by those who knew 
him, but by succeeding generations." For many 
years before his death, he was commonly spoken 
of as " the Patriarch," and " the Jehoiada of 
New England." 

About twenty years before his death, Dr. Ma- 
ther had a controversy, as we have before seen, 
on questions of church order and discipline, 
which gave him much uneasiness at the time, 
and led to painful forebodings as to the prospect 
of New England. But these difficulties at length 
subsided, and the evils resulting from them— 
owing in great measure, no doubt, to his resist- 
ance—were far less extensive than he feared. 
The churches and ministers of Boston seemed 
inclined to rally round the Platform, and cling 



152 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

to the established usages of New England. 
This was a great consolation to the venerable 
Mather, in his last days. " He left the world 
rejoicing, that the glorious Lord had seen fit to 
entrust his churches here to such pious, painful, 
and every way desirable hands. He saw a class 
of young ministers introduced into the city, whom 
he esteemed more precious than so many golden 
wedges of Ophir. When he saw given to the 
churches a Sewall, a Prince, a Webb, a Cooper, 
a Foxcroft, a Waldron, all singularly endeared 
to him, and saw others of a like character com- 
ing on after them, it is inexpressible with what 
joy he regarded them, and with what earnestness 
he entreated them to walk in the truth, and to 
plead for it." 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 153 



CHAPTER X. 

Increase Mather vindicated, from the charge of promoting witchcraft. 
From the charge of injuriously treating the founders of the Brat- 
tle Street Church. From the charge of injuring Gov. Dudley. 
From the charge of being the dupe of his own impressions. From 
the imputation of selfish and ambitious motives. From the gen- 
eral, wholesale charges of President Quincy, and others. 

For the first century after Dr. Mather's death, 
his character and reputation were unassailed and 
untarnished. They were suffered to remain, 
much as he had left them, in the hands of his 
immediate survivors. But within the last few 
years, certain writers in and around Boston, who 
have no sympathy with the religion of the Ma- 
thers, have undertaken to revile and defame him. 
With Cotton Mather I have at present nothing 
to do, except so far as his acts and character are 
identified with those of his father. But in a life 
of Increase Mather, it would be unpardonable 
not to inquire into the correctness of some of the 
principal charges which have been urged against 
him. 

He has been charged, in the first place, with 



154 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

an effective instrumentality in producing and 
prolonging the excitement in New England re- 
specting witchcraft. " That both the Mathers," 
says President Quincy, " had an efficient agency 
in producing and prolonging that excitement, 
there can be, at this day, no possible question."^ 

How Increase Mather could have had any 
agency in producing the excitement here re- 
ferred to, it is hard to conceive. The strange 
appearances at Salem village, (now Danvers,) 
commenced in February, 1692, when Dr. Ma- 
ther was in England, where he had constantly 
resided, and where he had been most intensely 
occupied with the important duties of his agency 
for nearly four years. How then could he have 
been instrumental in producing this excitement ? 

And the charge of prolonging it is even more 
unfounded than that of producing it. He ar- 
rived at home May 14, 1692, when the excite- 
ment was at its highest point. Shortly after- 
wards, as soon as it could possibly be prepared, 
he published his treatise, entitled " Cases of 
Conscience respecting Witchcraft, " in which, 
" with incomparable reason and reading," he re- 
futed the received doctrine of spectral evidence, 
on the ground of which so many innocent per- 



* History of Harvard University, vol. I, p. 62. 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 155 

sons had been tried and condemned. Immedi- 
ately upon this, says Cotton Mather, the governor 
" pardoned such as had been condemned," and 
the accused were, I believe, in all cases acquit- 
ted. " The confessors, too, came as it were out 
of a dream, wherein they had been fascinated, 
and the afflicted, in most instances, grew easy." 
It would seem from this account, given by an 
eye witness, that instead of contributing to pro- 
long the excitement, Dr. Mather was a principal 
instrument in bringing it to a close. 

That he was a believer in witchcraft, there 
can be no doubt; as who in that age, whether 
learned or unlearned, physicians, ministers, or 
lawyers, were not ? Such was the common 
faith of Christendom, and had been so for hun- 
dreds of years. Persons who have not attended 
particularly to the subject can have no idea of 
the extent to which the supposed crime of witch- 
craft has prevailed in different countries, and the 
multitude of deaths which it has occasioned. In 
the latter part of the sixteenth century, not only 
hundreds but thousands were put to death — ma- 
ny of them by the extremest tortures — in differ- 
ent parts of Europe, under the imputation of 
witchcraft. In the year 1664, Sir Matthew 
Hale presided at the trial of two females in Suf- 
folk, supposed to be witches, both of whom were 



156 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

condemned and executed. A few years later, 
many were tried and condemned in England, 
under the administration of Chief Justice Holt. 
The last execution for witchcraft in England 
was at Huntingdon, in the year 1716; and the 
last in Scotland was at Dornoch, Sutherland- 
shire, in 1722. The English statute against 
witchcraft, making it a capital offence, was not 
repealed, until the year 1736. Sir William 
Blackstone, the great oracle of British law, who 
died no longer ago than 1780, declared his be- 
lief in witchcraft in the following terms ; " To 
deny the possibility, nay the actual existence of 
witchcraft and sorcery, is at once flatly to con- 
tradict the revealed word of God, in various 
passages both of the Old and New Testaments ; 
and the thing itself is a truth to which every na- 
tion in the world hath, in its turn, borne testi- 
mony, either by examples seemingly well attested, 
or by prohibitory laws, which suppose at least 
the possibility of commerce with evil spirits." 

In New England, at the time of Increase Ma- 
ther, the belief in witchcraft may be said to have 
been universal. The most experienced physi- 
cians who were called to prescribe for the suf- 
ferers, and the most eminent ministers who 
were invited to pray with them, did not hesitate 
to pronounce them bewitched. Even those per- 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 157 

sons who had the least sympathy with the Ma- 
thers on some subjects, as Thomas and William 
Brattle, John Leverett, and Robert Calef, all 
agreed with them as to the reality of witchcraft. 
Thomas Brattle wrote a book in opposition to 
the proceedings of the times, in which he holds 
that, not only the afflicted, but most of the con- 
fessors " were possessed with the devil, and there- 
fore not fit to be regarded, as to anything they 
say of themselves or others." There can be no 
doubt that Increase Mather adopted the current 
belief of the times as to the reality and the sin 
of witchcraft. But that he had any instrumen- 
tality in producing or prolonging the excitement 
in New England on that subject, as alleged by 
President Quincy, is an entirely groundless ac- 
cusation. Indeed, he is expressly mentioned by 
Mr. Brattle, as one of those who " utterly con- 
demned" the proceedings of the courts, affirming 
that, if persisted in, they would "ruin and undo 
poor New England." 

Another charge, or rather series of charges 
against Dr. Mather, has grown out of his treat- 
ment of the Messrs. Brattle, Leverett, Colman, 
and others, in reference to the founding of the 
Brattle Street Church. He is represented as 
acting, in this instance, under the influence of 
" excited temper and wounded pride ;" as exhib- 

vol. v. 14 



158 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

iting- " great violence and personality, an ill-gov- 
erned and overbearing spirit." He was roused 
" to such a height of indignation, as to lose all 
sense of prudence and character, all patience and 
self-possession."^ But after much attention to 
the subject, I can see no sufficient grounds for 
these heavy, wholesale accusations. That Dr. 
Mather was conscientiously attached to the or- 
der of the New England churches, as established 
by the Cambridge Platform, and was disposed 
to discountenance any considerable departures 
from it, there can be no doubt. That he was 
especially dissatisfied with those alarming inno- 
vations which the Brattles and Mr. Leverett 
were laboring to introduce, is equally clear.! 
He would be led, therefore, not by " excited tem- 
per or wounded pride," but by the dictates of his 
conscience, and the fear of God, to oppose these 
innovations, and to discountenance the men who 



*Quincy's History, Vol. I. pp. 133—143. 

t" These men," says President Quincy, " refused to inquire into 
the regeneration of communicants; denied the necessity of explicit 
covenanting with God and the church ; admitted that persons not 
communicants might elect pastors ; referred admission to the sacra- 
ments to the prudence and conscience of the minister; and held that 
admission to the pastoral relation might be valid, without the appro- 
bation of neighboring churches." Vol. I, p. 200. Now whatever 
President Quincy may think of these innovations, Dr. Mather cer- 
tainly deemed them of most alarming import. He saw that, if thoy 
were not discountenanced, these churches of New England,, thia 
" garden of the Lord," as our fathers termed it, would be undone. 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 159 

insisted on promoting them. He would labor by- 
all fair means — and I have yet to learn that he 
used any other — to counteract the example and 
influence of these men, so far as their objection- 
able measures were concerned, and to keep the 
college from falling into their hands. 

This was one cause, I have no doubt, which 
led President Mather, near the close of his con- 
nection with the college, to hesitate as to the 
duty of resigning his office. He had before 
wished, and repeatedly proposed to resign ; but 
he now seemed rather to shrink from it, well 
knowing into whose hands the institution was 
likely to fall. He could not think it right to 
leave his flock in Boston, and become a resident 
at Cambridge, but was willing to discharge the 
office of President, as he had long done to gen- 
eral acceptance ; and if the legislature would 
not consent to this, he preferred that they, not 
he, should take the responsibility of closing his 
connection with the college. 

As little can it be doubted, that those who 
differed from him on questions of church order 
were exerting, at this time, a secret influence to 
get the college out of his hands, hoping and ex- 
pecting that it might fall into their own. It was 
owing in great measure to their influence, that 
the legislature pursued the course it did. As 



160 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

Cotton Mather tells the story, his enemies 
" obtained a vote, that no man should act as 
President of the college, who did not reside at 
Cambridge ;" well knowing " that Dr. Mather 
would not remove his habitation from a loving 
people at Boston, to reside at Cambridge, while 
the college was as it then was," i. e. without 
a charter, and consequently in an unsettled, 
embarrassed state ; " and that in this way they 
should get the college out of his hands. It 
should be borne in mind, that Mr. Leverett was, 
at this time, a leading member, and I believe 
the speaker, of the House of Representatives. 

I will not say that in Dr. Mather's controver- 
sial publications, growing out of what he hon- 
estly conceived to be the irregular constitution 
of the Brattle street church, there are no expres- 
sions which we may think unwarrantably 
severe. But thus much may at least be said : 
the controversy was conducted with more de- 
cency on his part, than on the other ; and the 
severe expressions on both sides are to be 
attributed more, probably, to the fashion of the 
age, than to the spirit and character of the men. 
And as one very justly remarks, " It is unfair to 
take a man out of his own age, and try him by 
the standard of another." 

It must be said also, in relation to this whole 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 161 

controversy, that the points for which Dr. Ma- 
ther contended, though not strictly points of 
doctrine, are yet of a vitally important character. 
So he regarded them ; and so they are regarded 
by evangelical Christians at the present day. 
He saw that if the principles of Stoddard, and 
the Brattles, and Leverett, and some others, in 
regard to the admission of persons to the church, 
were generally adopted, the churches would ere 
long be filled up with unconverted members, and 
the pulpits with unconverted ministers, and that 
the vital power of the gospel, if not its most 
essential truths, would be lost sight of and dis- 
carded. He saw that if the churches gave up 
the primitive inestimable right of electing, inde- 
pendently, their own ministers, very soon they 
would have ministers placed over them, from 
whose unholy influence they must either flee 
away, or under it they must consent to remain 
and be corrupted. 

The experience of almost a century and a 
half has shown that Dr. Mather's conclusions 
and forebodings were well founded. With re- 
gard to many of the Pilgrim churches, the worst 
that he feared from the mistakes of his cotempo- 
raries has been more than realized. And that 
the desolations resulting, in part, from the inno- 
vations then made, had not an earlier and a 
14* 



162 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

wider spread, is owing-, in great measure, to the 
resistance which he opposed to them ; so that 
now, after the lapse of five generations, we may 
look back upon Increase Mather as the man 
who, in the face of much obloquy and personal 
sacrifice, not only gave to Massachusetts a con- 
stitution of government, but saved the great 
body of her churches from a tide of ruin, which 
was beginning to set in, and threatening to roll 
over them. 

Another of the objections to Dr. Mather 
relates to his treatment of Governor Dudley. 
On the 12th of September, 1707, Vice President 
Willard died ; and in the month following, John 
Leverett was elected President of Harvard Col- 
lege. There can be no doubt that the election 
was displeasing to Dr. Mather. It is now pre- 
tended that he expected himself to be restored to 
the presidency, or at least that the office would 
have been given to his son ; and that he was so 
angry with Governor Dudley for defeating his 
own, or his son's appointment, and favoring the 
election of Mr. Leverett, that he immediately 
addressed to the Governor a letter, " breathing 
a spirit of abuse and virulence, of which the 
records of party animosity contain but few 
parallels."^ 



* Quincy's History Vol. I., p. 201. 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 163 

With respect to this letter to Governor Dud- 
ley, I remark, in the first place, that if President 
Quincy's dates are correct, (which there is some 
reason to doubt) the letter was written months 
before the death of Vice President Willard, or 
the election of Leverett, and of course could not 
have been prompted by any feelings which the 
writer entertained growing out of that event. 
The date of the letter, as given by President 
Quincy, is " 20th of January, 1707;" whereas 
Willard died in the September following, and 
Leverett was elected in October. 

But whatever may be thought as to the cor- 
rectness of dates, I remark, secondly, there is 
not in this letter of Dr. Mather, a single word, 
or the remotest allusion, respecting any expecta- 
tions of the writer as to the presidency, either 
for himself, or for his son. Neither does it con- 
tain the slightest allusion to the election of Mr. 
Leverett, or to any influence w T hich the Gov- 
ernor may be supposed to have exerted in favor 
of that event. Indeed, the letter contains but a 
single reference to the College in any way ; and 
that, as we shall see, is quite distinct and 
remote from the subject of the presidency. 

But not to dwell on preliminaries, let us come 
to the letter itself. And in order to understand 
the full purport of it, it will be necessary that we 



164 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

know something of the history and character of 
Governor Dudley. He was the son of Thomas 
Dudley, one of the first settlers and Governors of 
the Massachusetts colony, and was graduated at 
Harvard College in 1665. In his youth, he 
seemed to be truly religious, and used to speak 
of Dr. Mather as his " spiritual father." He 
was educated for the Christian ministry, and 
was once talked of as colleague with Dr. Mather 
in Boston. He soon engaged, however, in civil 
pursuits, after which his religious impressions 
seem to have presented no obstacle in the way 
of his ambition. He was in high favor with the 
oppressors of the colony, at the time when the 
charter was taken away. He was the first officer 
in the government, before Andros arrived. Un- 
der him, he was president of the council, and 
chief justice, and was deeply concerned in all 
the oppressions of those troublous times. In the 
subsequent revolution, when Andros and his 
creatures were imprisoned, Dudley was kept in 
close confinement, and was treated even more 
harshly than any of them, as being thought 
more inexcusably guilty. Had it not been for 
the interposition of Cotton Mather (for Increase 
was then in England), he would probably have 
been torn in pieces by the violence of the mob. 
He was ordered to England to give an account 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 165 

of himself, in 1689, and the next year he was 
made Chief Justice of New York. 

While Sir William Phipps was governor of 
Massachusetts, Dudley exerted all his influence 
and cunning to injure him, hoping to succeed 
him in the government, if by any means it 
could be got out of his hands. During the short 
administration of Lord Bellamont, he was in- 
triguing to secure favor, in both Old England 
and New, that if possible he might be again 
seated in the chair of his native state. He had 
always professed a great regard for the Mathers ; 
when in Boston, he attended frequently if not 
statedly, on their ministry ;* and he had now 
the address to procure a letter from Cotton 
Mather to king William, which had much influ- 
ence in his favor. He was appointed governor of 
Massachusetts in the year 1702, in which situa- 
tion he continued during the next fourteen 
years. " The first seven years," says Eliot, 
« were spent in debates with the House of 
Representatives, or in private disputes with men 
who ceased not to accuse him of artifice and de- 
ception, of arbitrary conduct, and of enmity even 

* In a letter to Increase Mather, dated May 17, 1636, Dudley 
says : "For the things of my soul, I have these many years hung 
upon your lips, and ever shall ; and in civil things, I am desirous 
you may know, with all plainness, my reasons of procedure, and that 
they may be satisfactory to you." 



166 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

to those privileges which they had obtained by 
the new charter." It was near the close of these 
first seven years that Dr. Mather, considering 
the relations which had subsisted between him- 
self and the governor, and the favors which he 
had conferred upon him, and being wearied and 
disgusted with the course of his administration, 
addressed to him the letter of which we speak. 
It is a plain, searching and faithful letter, such 
as few governors of Dudley's character ever 
received, and for which he had much more 
reason to be grateful, than to be angry. It is 
too long to be published entire, in these pages. 
A brief abstract of it is all that I can at present 
offer.^ 

In the first place, Dr. Mather expresses his 
fears that the governor had been guilty of receiv- 
ing bribes. And he mentions several instances 
of this nature, which had been sworn to by some 
of the most respectable men in the province. 

Next, he tells the governor of his fears, that 
" he had been contriving to destroy the charter 
privileges of the province," and introduce an- 
other government like that of Andros. And 
Mr. Bancroft, in his History of the United 



* The letter maybe found entire in the Massachusetts Historical 
Collections, Series 1., Vol. III., p. 126. Cotton Mather wrote tho 
governor a letter at the same time. 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 167 



States, assures us that this was true. He says 
expressly that " Governor Dudley, and for a 
season his son also, became the active opponents 
of the chartered liberties of New England, 
endeavoring" to effect their overthrow, and the 
establishment of a general government, as in the 
days of Andros.^ 

In the third place, Dr. Mather expresses to 
the governor his fears, that he had been hypo- 
critical, and inconsistent in respect to the college ; 
particularly (if I understand him) in his at- 
tempts to revive, by mere provincial authority, 
the old college charter of 1650, which he had 
often before represented to be dead, and never to 
be revived but by the assent of the king. And 
President Quincy is of the same opinion with 
Dr. Mather, on this subject. He represents this 
act of Dudley, in reviving the old college char- 
ter, without the assent of the king, as " irrecon- 
cilable with the duties growing out of the rela- 



* Vol. III., p. 100. Mr. Bancroft further says, that Dudley "tried 
to destroy the liberties of Connecticut ; prepared a volume of com- 
plaints; and urged the appointment of a Governor over Connecticut, 
by the royal prerogative," p. 70. It was about this time, or a little 
earlier, that a letter from his son, Paul Dudley, to the English court, 
was intercepted, in which he says: "This country, (New England), 
will never be worth living in for lawyers and gentlemen, till the 
charter is taken away. My father and I sometimes talk of the 
Queen's establishing a Court of Chancery in this country." See 
Hutchinson's History, Vol. II., p. 140. 



168 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

tion in which he stood to the British crown," 
and in contradiction to the "principles which he 
had openly asserted and maintained."^ 

In the fourth place, Dr. Mather says : " I am 
afraid that the guilt of innocent blood is still 
crying in the ears of the Lord against you ; I 
mean the blood of Leisler and Milburn." These 
men (Leisler and Milburn) were concerned in 
the revolution in New York, at the time of the 
accession of William and Mary, and were pub- 
licly executed, under sentence of Dudley, while 
he was Chief Justice of that province. Lord 
Bellamont afterwards declared, that " these men 
were not only murdered, but barbarously mur- 
dered." Mr. Bancroft also, in his history, speaks 
of their execution as "judicial murder." 

Dr. Mather's fifth and last fear for the gover- 
nor was, that " the Lord is offended with you, 
in that you ordinarily forsake the worship of 
God, in the holy church with which you are 
connected, in the afternoon of the Lord's day ; 
and spend the whole time, after the public exer- 
cise, with some persons reputed very ungodly 
men." 

In conclusion, Dr. Mather says : " How glad 
should I be, if I could receive satisfaction, that 
my fears of your being faulty in the matters I 



* History Vol. L, p. 159. 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 169 

have faithfully mentioned to you are groundless. 
But if it be otherwise, I am under pressure of 
conscience to bear a public testimony, without 
respect of persons ; and shall rejoice if it may be 
my dying testimony. I am now aged, expecting 
and longing for my departure out of the world 
every day. I trust in Christ that, when I am 
gone, I shall obtain a good report of my having 
been faithful before him. To his mercy I com- 
mend you," &c. 

Such is the letter of Increase Mather to Gov- 
ernor Dudley ; a letter which, in the judgment 
of President Quincy, " breathes a spirit of abuse 
and virulence, of which the records of party ani- 
mosity contain but few parallels." I have only 
to say, that I cannot so regard it ; and I am sure 
that this community, when they come to under- 
stand the subject, will wonder that such lan- 
guage could have been used respecting it. For 
who, I must ask again, was this Governor Dud- 
ley ? What was his character, in the estimation 
both of his cotemporaries, and of those who have 
come after him ? Only a year before Dr. Ma- 
ther's letter was written, a memorial was pre- 
sented to " the Queen's most excellent Majesty," 
and signed by twenty of the more distinguished 
friends of New England, some in this country 
and some in London, accusing him of nothing 

vol. v. 15 



170 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

less than treason ; — the supplying of the open 
enemies of his country with provisions and am- 
munition. 

Governor Hutchinson says of Dudley : " Am- 
bition was his ruling passion ; and perhaps, like 
Caesar, he had rather be the first man in New 
England, than the second in old. Mr. Alden 
Bradford represents him as one " covetous both 
of power and wealth, and as probably seeking 
for the former, as the best means of obtaining 
the latter." Mr. Bancroft says : " The character 
of Dudley was that of profound selfishness." 
He "loved neither freedom, nor his native 
land." He " is left without one to palliate his 
selfishness." President Quincy says that Dudley 
was " vindictive, craving, ambitious." 

It was no disgrace to Dr. Mather, that he lost 
the favor of such a man ; and that, before quite 
abandoning him, he was disposed to deal with 
him in a plain and faithful manner. With a 
fidelity like that of the old prophets in Israel, he 
tells the governor some painful truths, and 
points him forward to a coming judgment, 
which, in the midst of the cares and temptations 
of government, he was very liable to forget. On 
the whole, I think Dudley had more reason to be 
grateful for this letter, than to be angry at it ; — 
more reason to thank the writer for his faithful- 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 171 

ness, than to rail at him (as he did) for his rude- 
ness and impertinence. And I think this letter 
of Dr. Mather one of the last things that should 
be seized upon, as furnishing ground of objection 
to his character. 

It is further objected to Dr. Mather, that he 
was to a great and even ridiculous extent, the 
dupe of his own impressions, — impressions re- 
ceived, for the most part, in prayer, and which 
he deemed of an almost supernatural character. 
The impression of this kind which has been 
chiefly dwelt upon, and in the issue of which he 
was disappointed, was one which he cherished 
from about the year 1693, to the end of the cen- 
tury, with respect to an anticipated return to 
England. It was often impressed on him during 
this period, that " God would return him to 
England, and there give him opportunity, in 
some way, greatly to glorify the Lord Jesus 
Christ." He seems to have desired such an 
event, and in several instances the way was 
well nigh opened for the accomplishment of his 
wishes. But from various causes, he was dis- 
appointed. His accusers have seized hold of 
these impressions, and made them matter of ridi- 
cule and reproach. They talk of his " genuflex- 
ions, and prostrations, and spiritual elevations," 
and " glorious, heart-melting persuasions," in a 



172 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

manner which we deem offensive both to piety 
and taste : and finally resolve the whole into 
" the natural wishes of his own heart, — the 
cravings of an ambitious spirit."^ 

With regard to the subject here introduced, I 
remark, in the first place, that the current 
opinions and language of our fathers, in respect 
to various things, were so different from ours, 
that if we are disposed to take them out of their 
own age, and from among their cotemporaries, 
and judge of them by our standards, it is not 
difficult to make them appear ridiculous. For 
example, if all that the apostolic Eliot said and 
wrote respecting the abomination of wearing 
wigs and long hair, were collected together, 
how easy it would be to turn him into ridicule. 
Or if Governor Winthrop's account of the terri- 
ble judgment which befell Mrs. Dyer, in conse- 
quence of her having imbibed the errors of Mrs. 
Hutchinson, were copied out, and held promi- 
nently up to the gaze and disgust of modern 
eyes, not only the excellent governor, but many 
of his cotemporaries, might be made to appear 
ridiculous enough. But it may be questioned 
whether such a procedure would be fair or gener- 
ous. And I have the same scruples as to the pro- 



* Quincy's Hiatory, Vol. I., pp. 81-109. 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 173 

priety of ransacking the diaries of the Mathers, 
in search of materials for ridicule and reproach, 
and especially for turning into ridicule their 
more secret and solemn acts of devotion. 

But to come nearer to the subject in hand. 
While I dissent entirely from much that has 
been written, in our own times, in respect to 
what has been called " the prayer of faith," as 
being not only unscriptural, but of dangerous 
tendency, I still believe that there is such a 
thing as communion with God in prayer ; yes, 
intimate, heart-melting, heart-dissolving com- 
munion, — such as the venerable Mather some- 
times enjoyed, when he prostrated himself in 
secret before God, and wet his study floor with 
tears. I believe, too, that Christians who abound 
in prayer have sometimes such sensible assist- 
ance in their supplications for particular favors, 
that they can hardly resist the conclusion, when 
they rise from the duty, that the things prayed 
for will be bestowed. For they reason thus : 
11 God would not have afforded me such special 
assistance in praying for this or that event, if he 
had not intended to hear the prayer, and grant 
the request." I see nothing enthusiastical, or 
unreasonable in a conclusion such as this; 
though, to be sure, we are not infallible in judg- 
15* 



174 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

ments of this nature, and they should be formed 
and followed with much prudence and caution. 

I will go further and say, that if holy, spiritual 
persons, while engaged in their devotions, should 
think that they received remarkable impressions 
from God, with respect to certain coming events, 
I would not ridicule them. I would not say 
that the thing was impossible ; for I know 
" there are more things in heaven and earth, 
than some men have dreamed of in their philo- 
sophy." I know, too, that some of the best 
Christians on earth have received such im- 
pressions, and that the things of which they 
were in this way premonished have often 
come to pass. Repeated instances of this kind, 
some of which have before been noticed, are 
alleged to have occurred in the life of Dr. Ma- 
ther. At the same time I should feel, that even 
the best Christians were exceedingly liable to be 
deceived in regard to impressions of this nature ; 
and consequently, that they should say but little 
about them, and more especially that they should 
not suffer their duties, — their conduct to be much 
influenced by them. 

After this general expression of opinion, let us 
return to the case of the Mathers. I class them 
both together, because they were both alike con- 
cerned in this matter. In the first place, they 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 



175 



were both of them eminently persons of prayer. 
They observed more private fasts, and vigils, 
and spent more time in their secret devotions,— 
I believe far more— than was common with 
Christians in their own age ;— certainly more 
than is common now. And not only so, there 
was, if we may judge from their private writ- 
ings, a spirit, a fervor in their devotions, a near- 
ness and intimacy of communion with God, 
which has rarely been attained in this world of 



sin. 



These men believed, not only in the duty, but 
in the efficacy of prayer. They expected answers 
to their prayers. Not unfrequently they had 
strong impressions, amounting almost to an assu- 
rance, that certain events in providence were 
about to take place. And in some instances they 
did take place. Men may account for such dis- 
pensations as they will ; of the fact of their oc- 
currence there can be no reasonable doubt. ^ Still, 
Dr. Mather was liable to be deceived by his im- 
pressions ; and in regard to his anticipated 
return to England, -he certainly was deceived. 
Yet I see nothing in this, which should justly 
expose him to ridicule or reproach. This par- 
ticular impression seems to have exerted little or 
no influence,— certainly no bad influence on his 
conduct. He might have returned to England 



176 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

in several instances, if he had been so disposed. 
The corporation of college repeatedly desired 
him to go to England on an agency for them ; 
and in one instance, " the representatives and 
the governor voted a concurrence." At a later 
period, " the ministers of the province, by their 
delegates assembled at Boston, unanimously de- 
sired him to take a voyage to England, with an 
address from them," on the accession of George 
I., and "made provision for the expenses of the 
voyage."^ But in neither of these cases, did 
the way in providence seem to him to be open. 
His duty was not plain. And until it was plain, 
his impression could have no influence to induce 
him to go. His recorded feelings in reference 
to the whole matter was : " Lord, if it will be 
more to thy glory that I should go to England, 
than for me to continue here in this land, then 
let me go ; otherwise not." "The Lord over- 
rule this affair to his own glory, and so that I 
may see his holy hand pointing me what I should 
do." Here, surely, is an unfeigned and entire 
submission to the will of God ; — a feeling as un- 
like as possible to the restless longings of a 
selfish mind — " the cravings of an ambitious 
spirit." 



• Reinarkables, &c., p. 194. 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 177 

I cannot conclude this topic in words more 
appropriate than those of Cotton Mather himself. 
" Christians, reproach not a particular faith, as 
if there never were a gracious work of heaven 
in it. But yet be cautioned against laying too 
much stress upon it, lest ye find yourselves in- 
cautiously plunged into a hope that will make 
ashamed. A particular faith may be a work of 
God ; but the counterfeits of this jewel are so 
very fine, that it will require a judgment almost 
more than human to discern them. It is best 
that you should be content with the ordinary 
satisfaction of praying and waiting for the bless- 
ings of God, in such pious resignation to his 
will, and annihilations of your own, as an uncer- 
tainty about issues would most probably lead you 
to."* 

Our modern accusers of Dr. Mather charge 
him with being influenced, almost perpetually, 
by worldly, selfish, and ambitious motives. And 
they think themselves fully entitled to do this, 
because, in consequence of having access to his 
diary, they know the motives by which he was 
influenced. " Of the motives and master- 
passions of his eventful presidency, we are ena- 
bled," says President Quincy, " to speak with 



* Remarkables, &c, p. 195. 



178 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

great certainty." " President Mather and his 
son both kept diaries, in which they have re- 
corded their motives and purposes ; so that in 
relation to either, there can hardly be any mis- 
take."* 

In reference to this sort of diary evidence, of 
which President Quincy has made so much use, 
I feel bound, in passing, to offer a few remarks. 
And I ask, in the first place, is it quite fair and 
honorable to bring out, in this way, the diaries 
of distinguished men? These diaries were 
written, not for the public eye, but for their own 
private inspection ; or at most, for the inspection 
of some few personal, family friends. Is it 
right, then, to lay hold of them, and drag them 
out before the public, and turn them to a use for 
which they never were intended ? Most men 
say things at their own firesides, and in pres- 
ence of their families, which they would not 
wish to have published to the world. And 
if some impertinent listener were to treasure 
them up, and make them public, who would not 
be disposed to complain of the injury? We 
know not that President Quincy keeps a diary, 
but doubtless he is in the habit of writing letters, 
and maintaining a social, confidential corres- 



♦ Quincy'a History, Vol I, p. 56 v 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 179 

pondence with his friends. And in the course 
of this correspondence, he may have written as 
few things unsuitable for the public eye, as any 
other individual. But would he be willing that, 
some hundred and fifty years hence, his private 
letters should be collected, and that the whole of 
them, or the more objectionable parts should 
be spread out to public, view? Would he 
be willing that his successors in office should 
treat him after this manner, and to rest his per- 
manent reputation on the result of such disclos- 
ures ? 

Almost all ministers, and many others, in the 
days of the Mathers were in the habit of keeping 
journals or diaries, in which they recorded their 
private thoughts, their religious impressions, and 
the more important transactions of their lives. 
But would it be right for their successors and 
descendants, into whose hands these private pa- 
pers may have fallen, to make an indiscriminate 
exhibition of them before the world ? As well 
might they strip their venerable ancestors of their 
wigs and doublets, and send them into the streets 
in shirts and night-caps. 

Besides ; the real import of the diaries of 
evangelical Christians is not unfrequently mis- 
understood, especially by those who do not sym- 
pathize with them in their religious feelings and 



ISO LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

views. Such Christians record, in their closets, 
the sense they feel of their many imperfections, 
and their great sinfulness in the sight of God ; 
and persons who have less conscience of sin than 
they, and less sorrow for it, infer from the 
record, either that they were gross hypocrites, 
or that they had secretly been guilty of abomin- 
able crimes. Thus Boswell, finding in Johnson's 
diary, frequent intimations of his great sinfulness, 
and of the depth of his self-abasement, inferred 
that he must have been, secretly, a very wicked 
man. And Mr. Bancroft has no doubt, from 
Cotton Mather's account of his temptations and 
repentings, that his conscience troubled him for 
the part he had taken against the witches. 

I once knew a man who bitterly hated what 
he termed " the Evangelicals," and because he 
had little else to allege against them, he used to 
appeal, for evidence, to their prayers. " Go and 
hear the wretches pray. We need no further 
evidence of guilt. They confess themselves 
to have committed the most abominable crimes." 
There was about as much sense and justice in 
this kind of reasoning, as in the conclusions that 
are sometimes drawn from the humble confess- 
ions of Christians in their diaries. Because Job 
"abhorred himself and repented in dust and 
ashes," and Isaiah confessed himself to be " a 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 181 

man of unclean lips," and Paul groaned habitu- 
ally under a conscious burthen of sin, is it to be 
inferred that these holy men were hypocrites, 
and that they lived in the indulgence of palpable 
wickedness ? 

But I have not yet done with this species of 
diary evidence. When the diary does not treat 
of religious experience, but of the common affairs 
of life, there is reason to receive the testimony 
with much caution and allowance. For what is 
this testimony ? It is not that of an individual 
under oath. Neither is it the word of one who 
is writing a history — writing for posterity, — 
stating what he has thoroughly examined, and 
knows to be fact. In the sensible language of 
the North American Review : " The writer of a 
diary puts down his present impressions, which 
may be materially erroneous, for want of the ex- 
planations which a little more time may bring. 
Where friendships or dislikes are concerned, or 
questions of conduct are at issue, he makes his 
record under the influence of feelings which may 
bias him from the juster conclusions of a cooler 
hour. At all events, if his testimony is to be 
produced, when both he, and they who may be 
harmed by it, are no more, it is simply the testi- 
mony of a witness who cannot be cross-examined, 
against one accused who cannot speak for him- 

vol. v. 16 



182 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

self; — a kind of evidence which no acknowl- 
edged principle or process of justice approves."* 
In proof of the justness of these remarks, it may 
be observed, that the diaries quoted by President 
Quincy not unfrequently contradict one another, 
Mather contradicts Sewall, and Sewall Leverett, 
and Leverett one, if not both the others. They 
all give their honest impressions at the time ; but 
these impressions do not always coincide, and 
are to be received, as I said, with much caution 
and allowance. 

I have offered these remarks, more because 
they seemed to be demanded by the general 
subject, than because of their necessity in order 
to a vindication of Dr. Mather. President 
Quincy " is enabled to speak with great certain- 
ty of his motives and master-passions," because 
he has got possession of his diary, or of certain 
parts of it ; and under the shelter of such a cap- 
tion, he proceeds to accuse his venerable prede- 
cessor of acting from selfish, base, ambitious 
motives, in many of the more important transac- 
tions of his life. Take the following instances 
as examples : Dr. Mather is said to have re- 
canted his first thoughts respecting the half- 
way covenant, because " the side he had embraced 



* For 1841, p. 358. 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 183 

proved to be neither popular nor prevailing.'''' 
He changed his mind on the subject of tolera- 
tion, for the same reason. It was " love of distinc- 
tion" in part, which led him to oppose the 
usurpations of Andros, — Vol. I, pp. 119 — 121. 
Again, when the new charter of government had 
gone into operation, and " the Calvinistic lead- 
ers of the province " which " Increase and Cotton 
Mather aspired to become " — " began to realize 
that the sceptre they had so long possessed had 
passed from their hands," they " sought to pos- 
sess themselves of such other instruments of 
power as were yet within their grasp ;" and 
this was the secret of their strong attachment to 
the college, — pp. 65, 66. And when the college 
charter, which President Mather had exerted 
himself to push through the provincial legisla- 
ture, and under which the corporation had acted 
long enough " to gratify him with a doctorate," 
was negatived by the king, President Quincy 
thinks it likely that Mather was glad of it; " as 
the affairs of the college were thrown into a state 
of inexplicable embarrassment," and " the sense 
of the importance of his experience and services 
w as greatly augmented," — p. 71. His opposition 
to the founders of the Brattle Street Church was 
the result of an " excited temper, and wounded 
pride" and a desire to retain his popularity 



184 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

with the prevailing sect," — p. 133. He was 
compelled, however, for prudential reasons, so 
far " to smother his resentments, as to take part 
in the religious services at the dedication of the 
church," — p. 135. 

Such is a specimen of the manner in which 
President Quincy goes on, through more than a 
hundred pages, imputing the basest motives to 
Dr. Mather, and representing him as a vile hyp- 
ocrite, who cared nothing for college, church, 
or country ; whose only concern was, so to con- 
duct affairs that his own private ends might be 
answered, his own wrongs avenged, and the 
sense of his own personal importance and influ- 
ence augmented. And his accuser feels fully 
authorized to make such representations, be- 
cause he has had sight of Dr. Mather's diary, 
and is " able to speak with certainty as to the 
motives and master-passions of his eventful 
presidency." 

But where is the evidence from the diary that 
such were " the master-passions " by which he 
was moved ? Does Mather confess as much as 
this ? Does he record it in his diary ? As 
President Quincy has been pleased to appeal to 
the diary, we may insist that he should abide by 
it. He should, at least, so far abide by it, as in 
no instance directly to contradict it. And yet 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 185 

this he has very frequently done. In many in- 
stances, he imputes motives to Dr. Mather, the 
very opposite of those which the diary affirms. 
For example, Dr. Mather, in his diary, continu- 
ally assigns it as his motive, and his only mo- 
tive, for desiring to return to England, that he 
might there have an opportunity to glorify God, 
and serve the cause and the kingdom of Christ. 
But President Quincy can see nothing here but 
"the natural cravings of an ambitious spirit." 
Again, Dr. Mather, in his diary, repeatedly, and 
with the utmost apparent sincerity, expresses the 
determination to resign his office in college. He 
did this in 1695 ; and was prevented from car- 
rying his determination into effect, only by the 
remonstrances of the corporation against it. He 
did the same, in three several instances, in 1697. 
Under date of August 7th, he says in his diary, 
" I am determined to resign my relation to the 
college the next week, having desired a corpo- 
ration meeting for that end." " September 3d. 
My discouragements are such, that I am fully 
purposed to resign the presidentship." " Sep- 
tember 15. At college to attend a corporation 
meeting, when I intended to resign the presi- 
dentship ; but it being a stormy day, there want- 
ed one to make a sufficient number for a 
meeting." Yet President Quincy persists in 
16* 



186 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

insinuating, if not asserting, that "these threats 
of resigning were intended only for effect, and 
that there was no sincerity in them," — p. 96. 
Our charge here is, and it is an unanswerable 
charge, that having appealed to the diary as the 
grand source of evidence by which to decide 
upon the motives of his predecessor, President 
Quincy persists in imputing to him unworthy 
and selfish motives, not only without the evi- 
dence of the diary, but in direct contradiction 
to it. He will appeal to the diary, so long as 
any thing there recorded, by being distorted, 
perverted, and judged of by our modern standards, 
can be turned into matter of ridicule or invective ; 
but when the diary assumes another character, 
it can be readily dispensed with, or directly con- 
tradicted. 

I only remark further, in reference to Presi- 
dent Quincy's treatment of Dr. Mather, that he 
represents him frequently, if not generally, as 
being actuated by a wrong spirit, as a disturber 
of the churches, as being rather a bad than a 
good man. Both to him and his son, "contro- 
versy was not so much an incident, as an element 
of their natures." Their theological zeal was 
always at the boiling point. Their controversy 
with the innovators of the times was conducted 
" neither with temper nor policy," — pp. 132, 137. 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 187 

" Violent doctrinal dissensions were by them ex- 
cited and perpetuated " in the churches, through 
a long course of years, "^ — p. 349. Of Increase 
Mather himself it is said, that in his controversy 
respecting church order, he "lost all patience 
and self-possession" and " was led to the exhibi- 
tion of great violence and personality" — pp. 
133, 139. In a word, the character of Dr. Ma- 
ther is summed up by President Quincy, in the 
following terms : He " was restless, obtrusive, 
excitable, boastful of his public services, and 
complaining of neglect and ingratitude." His 
whole life had been one "series of theological 
and political controversy." He " was a partisan 
by profession ; always harnessed, and ready, 
and restless for the onset; now courting the 
statesman, now mingling with the multitude, ex- 
citing the clergy in the Synod, the congregation 
in the pulpit, and the people in the halls of the 
popular assembly," — p. 147. 

Of wholesale charges such as these, it would 
be useless to go into a particular examination. 
The most of them, it is well known, are false 
and slanderous ; and the author of them, so long 
as they are permitted to stand unretracted, can 



* What " doctrinal dissensions 1" The Congregational ministers 
and churches of that period and for a long while afterwards, were 
agreed in doctrine, 



188 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

in no way escape the imputation of being a li- 
beller of the holy dead. Increase Mather's 
whole life " one series of theological and political 
controversy /" And yet of his eighty-six publi- 
cations, more than seventy, as we shall presently 
see, are of a decidedly practical character. In- 
crease Mather a disturber of the New England 
churches and clergy ! And yet Dr. Eliot des- 
cribes him as " the father of the New England 
clergy, whose name and character were held in 
veneration, not only by those who knew him, 
but by succeeding generations." It was this 
same slandered Increase Mather, who (to use 
the language of the General Court,) by " un- 
wearied, indefatigable labor and service, volun- 
tarily undertaken for the good of his country, 
and attended with much difficulty and hazard to 
his person," saved Massachusetts from revolu- 
tion and bloodshed, and gave to her a charter of 
government, under which she prospered for al- 
most a century. This, too, is the man, (and 
with some, this is his great and unpardonable 
offence,) who, by his resistance to unscriptural 
and alarming innovations, kept back the tide of 
spiritual desolation from rolling over the church- 
es of the Pilgrims for a series of years, and 
greatly restricted its ravages, when at length it 
came ; — the man, to whom New England is 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 189 

more indebted, ecclesiastically and civilly, than 
to any other individual who ever lived in it ; 
who, when he died, was " honored with a greater 
funeral than had ever been seen in these parts of 
the world," and in consequence of whose death, 
" the pulpits, throughout the country, rang with 
mingled eulogies and funeral lamentations."^ 

One of the most painful effects of President 
Quincy's misrepresentations is the impression 
which they left on the mind of the late learned 
and estimable Mr. Grahame, author of a History 
of the United States. Though not a Puritan by 
descent, Mr. Grahame was evidently one in 
feeling. He was a Calvinist of the Scottish 
church, and seems to have been a truly pious 
man. He had a strong sympathy with the early 
settlers of New England, and in his History had 
spoken in the most favorable terms of the Ma- 
thers. He calls Increase Mather " the most 
eminent theologian, and the most pious and 
popular minister of Massachusetts." But after 
reading Quincy's History of Harvard Univer- 
sity, he hardly knew what to say or to think. 
We find the following passage in his Journal: 
" He (President Quincy) wounds my prejudices 
by attacking the Mathers, and other persons of 



*Remarkables &c, p. 211, 



190 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

a primitive cast of Puritanism, with a severity 
the more painful to me, that I see not well how 
I can demur to its justice." And in a note, in 
the last edition of his History, Mr. Grahame 
says : " From President Quincy's History of 
Harvard University, it appears to me, much 
more clearly than agreeably, that, in the instance 
of Cotton Mather, as well as of his father, a 
strong and acute understanding, though united 
with real piety, was sometimes corrupted by a 
deep vein of passionate vanity and absurdity."^ 
Had Mr. Grahame lived long enough to learn 
the real character of President Quincy's History, 
and the little credit which is due to it, more 
especially on points which conflict with the 
author's religious prejudices, his good opinion of 
the Mathers would not have been much affected 
by such an authority. 

But we leave the venerated Increase Mather 
to his rest. It will not be disturbed, nor will his 
reputation permanently suffer, by any attempts, 
at this late day, to tarnish and reproach it. The 
shafts of his revilers will recoil and fasten on 
themselves, rather than fall with lasting injury 
on him. 



* Memoir, p. 24. Hist. vol. I, p. 2S9. 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 191 



CHAPTER XI. 

Abstract of Cotton Mather's Sermon, on the death of his father. 
Catalogue of Increase Mather's publications. 

I have before stated, that the sermon at the 
funeral of Dr. Mather was preached by the Rev. 
Mr. Foxcroft, of the first church. But this was 
not the only funeral sermon. The ministers of 
Boston all delivered discourses on occasion of 
his death ; and not only in Boston, but " through- 
out the country, the pulpits rang with mingled 
eulogies and funeral lamentations." 

The fact that so many sermons were preached 
on the occasion, is proof of the deep veneration 
in which the deceased patriarch was held ; and 
the sermons themselves, could we have access 
to them, would furnish the best means of form- 
ing a due estimate of his character. But these 
discourses, like their authors, have passed away. 
They are treasured up in the book of God's ac- 
count, but (so far as I know, with a single excep- 
tion) they are no longer accessible to the living. 
The exception to which I refer is the sermon of 



192 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

Cotton Mather, preached to the Old North 
Church, in Boston, September 8th, 1723, the 
second Sabbath after his father's death. The 
greater part of this discourse is preserved ; and 
I know not how I can more appropriately con- 
clude the Memoir of Increase Mather, than by- 
presenting my readers with an abstract of it. It 
will be interesting, not only on account of the 
preacher and the solemn circumstances under 
which it was preached, but as exhibiting the 
topics on which Increase Mather had chiefly in- 
sisted, during his long ministry. 

The preacher commences in his peculiar, 
quaint, characteristic manner, as follows : " My 
design this day is, to preach over some thous- 
ands of sermons ; and yet I design but one short 
sermon for you. My design is, to preach over 
the sermons of another man ; and yet the ser- 
mon shall be honestly and entirely my own. 
My design is, to give pungency to a ministry of 
which God has now deprived us ; and to apply 
over again the goads which the late master of 
our assemblies had used upon us ; or to clench 
the golden nails which, for more than three 
score years together, he has been driving into 
us. I shall endeavor that the word of the gos- 
pel, as he preached it to you, may endure for- 
ever in your affectionate remembrance ; yea, 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 193 

more than this, that it may be retained in the 
hands of your children after you. 

" The advice given to the church at Sardis, 
Rev. 3 : 3, may be a very proper introduction 
10 my undertaking : ' Remember how thou hast 
received and heard S " 

Doctrine. 

A people ought to remember what they have 
heard preached unto the?n, and how they have 
received it. 

After opening and discussing the doctrine of 
the text, the preacher proceeded to make appli- 
cation of it, as follows : 

" In the ministry of your departed pastor, 
there were some articles of a more frequent and 
cogent inculcation, whereof you will allow me 
to be, this day, a remembrancer unto you. 
Though he preached over the whole body of 
divinity, and occasional subjects without num- 
ber, yet there were all along some articles which 
in the fulfilling of his ministry, he pressed with 
a peculiar flame ; and I hope you will apprehend 
him speaking to you, in my brief recapitulation 
of them. 

" 1. Remember how you have received and 
heard, that sin is an odious and a dangerous 

VOL. V. 17 



194 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

evil. Your late pastor began his ministry here 
with several sermons on Lam. 5 : 16. ' Wo is 
unto us, that we have sinned ; ' wherein he dis- 
coursed on the woful effects of sin. And al- 
though few now alive remember those sermons, 
yet this you may all remember, that the un- 
known and too much unregarded and unla- 
mented evil of sin was what his ministry did 
exceedingly mind you of. What pains did he 
take to convince you, that none but fools make a 
mock at sin ; that it is a most vile thing, by sin, 
to deny the God above ; and that no sinner can 
hope to go unpunished. How vehemently did 
he, as with the hammer which breaketh the 
rock in pieces, drive this home upon you, that 
Tio sin is to be indulged or harbored, nor so 
much as a sinful thought to be allowed a lodg- 
ment within you. How often has he declared it 
unto you, that one known sin, lived in, is incom- 
patible with a state of salvation ; that it will be 
leak enough to sink the soul that persists in it. 
What mighty thunderings have you heard from 
this pulpit, as from a naming mountain, against 
those things, for which the wrath of God comes 
on the children of disobedience ? What warn- 
ings was he accustomed to give against those 
particular sins, by which he saw that the souls 
of men were most endangered? O remember 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 195 

these things, and from the words of his lips 
learn to keep yourselves from the paths of the 
destroyer. 

"2. Remember how you have received and 
heard, that a real and sound conversion to God 
is the one thing of all others most needful for 
you. The sermons which your late pastor 
preached, and which have been several times 
printed, on Mat. IS : 3. ' Except ye be con- 
verted, and become as little children, ye shall 
not enter into the kingdom of heaven ; ' these 
were not the only sermons in which he pressed 
upon you the necessity of turning and of living 
unto God. That alienation from God which the 
fall has brought upon us was so grievous unto 
him, that the necessity of regeneration seemed a 
thing that could not be too frequently or too 
earnestly pleaded for. With what loud calls and 
peals did he thunder it in your ears, that you 
must have a work of grace wrought in you, and 
a holiness, without which no man shall see the 
Lord ; that you must have experience of the 
neio birth, or good had it been for you if you 
had never been born ; that you must become 
new creatures, else he that made you will not 
have mercy on you, and he that formed you 
will show you no favor. And then, like the 
angel that hastened the lingerers out of Sodom, 



196 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

how zealously, terribly did he call on the delay- 
ing sinner, ' Fly for thy life ! ' The word with 
him was, ' To-day ! to-day ! to-day ! ' Can 
you forget the piercing sound of it ? The uncer- 
tain approaches and surprises of certain death, 
and the madness of resisting the Holy Spirit on 
whose influences your conversion depends ; how 
powerfully, earnestly were you minded of these 
things ! 

" Then, as he had been himself a pattern of 
early piety, and in the close of his days, there 
was no one thing that so much comforted him 
as this, ' I gave myself up to God in my 
youth ; ' so he was a most fervent and winning 
preacher to the young: Early piety ! how 
mightily, how ardently, and with what frequent 
excitations, did he plead for this ! O children 
and youth, remember these things ; and know 
that you are deaf to thunder, if you can still 
continue in your unregeneracy. 

" 3. Remember how you have received and 
heard, that persons may go very far, and seem 
very fair, in a profession of religion, arid after 
all be hypocrites and castaways. It was with a 
singular agony that your late pastor, many years 
ago, preached several sermons on Job 27 : 8. 
1 What is the hope of the hypocrite ? ' And how 
often since, and in how many sermons, and 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 197 

with what an unparalleled solemnity, has he told 
you, that many seem to be religious, whose re- 
ligion is vain ? That many natter themselves 
with vain expectations to be found among the 
blessed of the Lord, who, after all, shall be led 
forth with the workers of iniquity ! That many 
pass through awakenings, convictions, and con- 
tritions, and come even to reformations, and 
some consolations, who yet, for want of closing 
with Christ in all his offices, and for the sake of 
some lust from which they are not willing to-be 
divorced, find themselves miserably deceived at 
the last. How pathetically would he bewail the 
fate of these poor self-deceivers ! O remember 
these things, and let us beware that we be not 
found among the sinners in Zion ! 

" 4. Remember how you have received and 
heard, that to pray always is the best and surest 
means of good. Your late pastor not only 
preached (what you have on your shelves) his 
discourses on Psalm 32 : 6. ' Every one that is 
godly will pray;' but you have heard it from 
him in his preaching a thousand times, that 
prayer is the first note of a soul returning to 
God ; that, without prayer, there is nothing to 
be done, and no good to be looked for ; that 
prayer is the main engine with which all good 
purposes are to be carried on. Prayer was that 
17* 



198 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

which he himself used with an unceasing assi- 
duity ; and he preached it, as he used it. He 
had witnessed amazing answers to prayers. The 
efficacy of prayer was demonstrated and exem- 
plified to admiration in what he had himself ex- 
perienced; and this added flame to the heat 
with which he would have melted you to run 
into the like devotions. How potently have you 
heard secret prayer commended to you, as that 
to which it is impossible that any child of God 
should be a stranger ? How forcibly, and with 
what an arrest upon the conscience, have you 
heard household prayer demanded of you ? And 
with what thunderings and lightnings have you 
heard that voice of God ringing in your ears : 
1 Pour out thy fury upon the families that call 
not on thy name.' O remember these things ; 
and let none of you be those inexcusable work- 
ers of iniquity, who call not upon God ! 

" 5. Remember how you have received and 
heard, that the table of the Lord is to be seri- 
ously and thoughtfully prepared for, and wor- 
thily approached. It was a grief to your late 
pastor, to see so many turn their backs upon the 
table of the Lord ; thus openly proclaiming that, 
after all the means which have been used for 
them, the case of their souls is yet in a wretched 
uncertainty. He pressed the plain command of 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 199 

the Saviour, ' Do this in remembrance of me ; ' 
and could not see why any should be so afraid 
of disobeying the command by coming unsuit- 
ably, as to shake off all fear of disobedience by 
not coming at all. At the same time, he strongly 
urged the necessity of preparation. He did not 
look on the supper of the Lord as a converting 
ordinance. The bread, he said, belonged to none 
but the children. How powerfully did he preach 
on Matt. 22 : 12. ' How earnest thou in hither, 
not having on a wedding garment ? ' A process 
of repentance was the first thing to be gone 
through with ; and then he proposed an addi- 
tional preparation, incumbent on those who are 
already the children of God. Accordingly, it 
was his own custom, for three-score years to- 
gether, to spend a whole day in secret prayer 
and fasting, before the celebration of the holy 
supper. O remember these things; and let 
none of you dare come to the table of the Lord 
unworthily, and thus eat and drink judgment to 
yourselves.' 

" 6. Remember how you have received and 
heard, when the eternity, to which we are all 
hastening, has been held up before you. Of 
what did your late pastor more frequently re- 
mind you, than eternity ? That word eternity, 
he often said, is enough to break the heart of 



200 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

any one, that will solemnly think of it. With 
what anticipations of the last trump, and the 
final doom, did you hear him preach on Heb. 9 : 
27. ' And after death the judgment.' You have 
seen him opening the bars of the pit, and setting 
before you, in the most awful colors, the second 
death ; bringing up the damned from their place 
of torment, and showing you the ever burning 
lake. You have seen him removing as it were 
the screen, and giving you a sight of the fire 
that never shall be quenched ; that so, knowing 
the terrors of the Lord, you may be persuaded 
into the way of understanding, and not go down 
to the congregation of the dead. 

" You have also seen heaven opened, in the 
discoveries which he thence brought to you, 
concerning the worship of God above by myriads 
of angels, and the spirits of the just made per- 
fect, with Jesus the Mediator of the new cove- 
nant, carried on in the true temple above ; — 
discoveries of the rest from the days of evil, and 
the fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore, to 
be enjoyed in the blissful mansions. He drew 
aside the vail, and showed you the interior of 
the holy place, that so he might persuade you to 
accompany him in the way to Zion, with your 
faces thitherward. O remember these things, 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 205 

and flee from the wrath to come ! Remember, 
and lay hold on eternal life ! 

" 7. Remember, especially, how you have 
received and heard, concerning a glorious Christy 
the enthroned, the incarnate, the infinite Son of 
God. Your late pastor knew very well how to 
preach — and he did it more than once — on Col. 
3 : 11. ' Christ is all, and in all.' In his entire 
ministry, he made him so, determining to know 
nothing but Christ and him crucified. You 
never saw him so much in his element, as when 
the glories of Christ were to be set before you. 
The doctrine of Christ was the grand theme, to 
which he advised those who were to become 
preachers of the gospel ; and he set an example 
in this respect well worthy to be imitated. Re- 
member what you have so often heard about the 
importance of accepting a glorious Christ, with 
all his benefits, as offered in the gospel; and 
about the way of living on a glorious Christ, in 
all that you have to do and suffer, while you are 
living in this dying world ; and about the man- 
ner of living to Christ, as well as on him, if you 
would be able to say, ' For me to die shall be 
gain.' O let the remembrance of these things 
make you well established Christians." 

" But I have now done. What I have this 
day preached to you must be called a sermon to 



202 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

bring to remembrance. Like Peter the aged, I 
have hoped to stir up your pure minds, by way 
of remembrance. It was charged upon the He- 
brews as a fault : ' Ye have forgotten the exhor- 
tation which speaketh unto you, as unto chil- 
dren.' O my dear people, on whom the doctrine 
of your late pastor dropped as the rain, and dis- 
tilled as the dew, as the small rain upon the 
tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass ; 
see to it that this fault shall never be charged 
home upon you ! " 

I have presented this long extract, both as an 
index of the preaching of Increase Mather, and 
a specimen of the style and manner of his son. 
A few of the expressions have been modernized, 
but the plan, the thoughts, and in general the 
language, are all his own. And in view of it I 
cannot repress the inquiry, When, where, was 
any church more soundly instructed, more richly 
fed, than was the Old North Church in Boston, 
under the ministry of the Mathers ? We talk of 
improvements in the manner of preaching ; and 
in some respects there have been improvements. 
But it becomes us to inquire, whether in other 
respects, we have not deteriorated, and whether 
the effects of the deterioration are not visible 
around us. When the great, stirring truths and 
facts of the gospel are pressed home upon the 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 203 

minds, and the hearts of a people, with the 
point, the spirit, the unction of the Mathers, 
they always have been followed — they always 
will be — with glorious results. 

It only remains that I present, as a memorial 
of the industry and piety of Dr. Mather, a sim- 
ple, chronological catalogue of his published 
works. Not a few of the publications, whose 
titles follow, passed through several editions. 
1669. 
The Mystery of Israel's Salvation. 

1670. 
The Life and Death of the Rev. Richard 
Mather. 

1673. 
Woe to the Drunkards. 

1674. 
The Day of Trouble near. 
Important Truths about Conversion. 

1675. 
The First Principles of New England. 
A Discourse concerning Baptism, and the 
Consociation of Churches. 
The Wicked Man's Portion. 
The Times of Men in the Hands of God. 

1676. 
A History o the War with the Indians ; with 
an Exhortation to the Inhabitants. 



204 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

1677. 

A Relation of the Troubles of New England 
from the Indians, from the Beginning. 

An Historical Discourse on the Efficacy of 
Prayer. 

Renewal of Covenant, the Duty of Decaying 
and Distressed Churches. 
1678. 
Pray for the Rising Generation. 

1679. 
A Call to the Rising Generation. 

1680. 
The Divine Right of Infant Baptism. 
The Great Concernment of a Covenanting 
People. 

Heaven's Alarm to the World. 

1682. 
A Diatribe concerning the Sign of the Son of 
Man (in Latin). 

Practical Truths, in Several Sermons. 
The Church, a Subject of Persecution. 

1683. 
Cometographia ; or a Discourse concerning 
Comets. 

1684. 
Remarkable Providences. 
The Doctrine of Divine Providence. 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 205 
. 1685. 

An Arrow against Profane and Promiscuous 
Dances. 

1686. 
The Mystery of Christ. 
The greatest of Sinners Exhorted. 
A Sermon on the Execution of a poor man 
for Murder. 

16S7. 
A Testimony against Superstitions. 

1688. 
A Letter concerning the Success of the Gos- 
pel among the Indians, (in Latin). * 
1689. 
The Unlawfulness of using Common Prayer, 
and of Swearing on the Book. 
1690. 
Several Papers relating to New England. 
A Relation of the State of New England. 
The Revolution Justified. 
1693. 
The Blessing of Primitive Counselors, (an 
Election Sermon). 

Cases of Conscience concerning "Witchcraft. 
An Essay on the Power of the Pastor for the 
Administration of the Sacraments. 



* Addressed to Dr. John Leusden of Utrecht. 
VOL. V. 18 



206 LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

1695. 
Whether a Man may marry his Wife's Sister. 
Solemn Advice to Young Men. 

1696. 
Angelographia ; A Treatise of Angels. 

1697. 
A Discourse on Man's not knowing his Time. 
The Case of Conscience concerning the Eat- 
ing of Blood. 

1698. 
David Serving his Generation : A Funeral 
Sermon, for the Rev. John Bailey. 

1699. 
The Surest Way to the Highest Honor. 
A Discourse on Hardness of Heart. 
The Folly of Sinning. 

1700. 
The Order of the Gospel Vindicated. 

1701. 
The Blessed Hope. 

1702. 
Remarks on a Sermon of George Keith. 
Ichabod: Or, the Glory Departing. 
The Excellency of a Public Spirit. 
The Righteous Man, a Blessing. Two Ser- 
mons. 

1703. 
The Duty of Parents to Pray for their Chil- 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 207 

Soul-saving Gospel Truths. 

1704. 
The Voice of God in Stormy "Winds. 
Practical Truths, to Promote Holiness. 

1705. 
Meditations on the Glory of Christ. 

1706. 
A Discourse concerning Earthquakes. 
A Testimony against Sacrilege. 
A Dissertation concerning the Right to the 
Sacrament. 

1707. 
Meditations on Death. 

A Disquisition concerning the State of Souls 
Departed. 

1709. 
A Dissertation concerning the Future Con- 
version of the Jews. Confuting Dr. Lightfoot, 
and Mr. Baxter. 

1710. 
A Discourse concerning Faith, and Prayer for 
the Kingdom of Christ. 

A Sermon on " Be very Courageous ; " at 
the Artillery Election. 

Awakening Truths, tending to Conversion. 

1711. 
Meditations on the Glory of the Heavenly 
World. 



20S LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 

A Discourse concerning the Death of the 
Righteous. 

The Duty of the Children of Godly Parents. 

1712. 
Burnings Bewailed. 

Remarks upon an Answer to a Book against 
the Common Prayer. 

Meditations on Sanctification of the Lord's 
Day. 

1713. 
A Plain Discourse, showing who shall, and 
who shall not, enter into Heaven. 

The Believer's Gain by Death : A Funeral 
Sermon for his Daughter-in-Law. 
1714. 
Resignation to the Will of God. On the 
Death of his Consort. 

1715. 
Jesus Christ, a Mighty Saviour* 

1716. 
A Disquisition concerning Ecclesiastical Coun- 
cils. 

There is a God in Heaven. 
The Duty and Dignity of Aged Servants of 
God. 

1718. 
The Duty of Praying for Ministers. A Ser- 
mon at the Ordination of his Grandson. 



LIFE OF INCREASE MATHER. 209 

Sermons on the Beatitudes. 

Practical Truths plainly delivered ; an Ordi- 
nation Sermon. 

1719. 

Five Sermons on Several Subjects. One on 
the Author's Birthday. 

1721. 

Advice to the Children of Godly Ancestors. 

Tracts, on Inoculation for the Small Pox. 
1722. 

A Dying Pastor's Legacy. 

Elijah's Mantle. 

Besides these eighty-six publications, Dr. 
Mather wrote many fugitive pieces, and " learn- 
ed and useful Prefaces," which the publishers 
of books obtained from him, sufficient, if col 
lected, to make a considerable volume. 



18* 



LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PHIPPS. 



LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PHIPPS. 



CHAPTER I. 

His parentage, and circumstances) in early life. Becomes a ship- 
carpenter, and removes to Boston. His marriage. Exepdition to 
Sheepscot. His voyages of discovery in pursuit of wealth. His 

final success. 

Some of the more striking peculiarities of New 
England character — traits which have come 
down to us from our Puritan ancestry— are 
energy, enterprise, activity, perseverance, in 
whatever we think proper to undertake. We 
are proverbially a scheming, stirring people, 
who, if we do not find business, can make it, 
and who, if we cannot live one way, can some- 
how contrive to live another. It is next to im- 
possible to starve a genuine Yankee, or by any 
adverse change of circumstances effectually to 

put him down. 

And yet, there are two sorts of characters, 



214 LIFE OF SIR WM. PHIPPS. 

even among ourselves ; or rather, our people 
exhibit, the above traits of character in very 
different degrees. Some, though of Puritan 
stock, and born and bred in New England, are 
well nigh destitute of the peculiarities referred 
to. They may be social, intelligent, virtuous, 
amiable, but they are not enterprising and perse- 
vering. They may not be palpably indolent or 
inefficient, but they are incapable of giving the 
right direction to things, and of carving out a 
portion for themselves. 

At the other extreme from the persons here 
described, we find a very different exhibition of 
New England character. Here are men, whose 
inventive resources are well nigh exhaustless, 
and whose energy and perseverance are indom- 
itable. It matters little to them in what condi- 
tion of life they are placed. If circumstances 
favor, they make the most of them ; or if other- 
wise, they rise above them. If an individual of 
this class is given to books, he can study as 
effectively at the blacksmith's forge, or by the 
kitchen candle, as others can in the best fur- 
nished apartments. Shut such an one up in 
prison, with nought but a jack-knife and a shin- 
gle, and he will soon have wrought out some- 
thing which he hopes will sell. Or put him 
down on a naked rock in the ocean, and he will 



LIFE OF SIB. WM. PHIPPS. 215 

at once begin to collect earth upon it, prepare 
his garden, and make ready for some kind of 
commerce with the world. 

It is to an individual of this latter class that I 
propose to direct attention in the following 
pages. Sir William Phipps was (in the corn- 
man, popular sense of the terms,) the maker of 
his own fortune. Commencing life under the 
most forbidding circumstances, he rose, by his 
own efforts, to the possession, not only of a 
great estate, but of the highest honors to which, 
in this country, he could at that time aspire ; — 
and all this, without compromising his moral or 
Christian character, and without incurring more 
than a moderate share of the envy or hostility 
of the world. And yet he died at the early 
age of forty-four. The study of such a life and 
example cannot but be useful, more especially 
to my youthful readers. It will not be without 
interest, I hope, to all. 

William Phipps, was born at Nequasset, (now 
Woolwich, Me.,) Feb. 2, 1651, almost two hun- 
dred years ago. His father, James Phipps, was, 
by occupation, a gunsmith. He emigrated from 
Bristol, England, at an early period in the set- 
tlement of this country, and fixed his residence 
at the place above mentioned, on the eastern 



216 LIFE OF SIR WM. PHIPPS. 

bank of the Kennebec river, some twelve or 
fifteen miles from its mouth. 

There had been for some years, an establish- 
ment at this place for fishermen and other ad- 
venturers ; still, the settlement was new, and 
the inhabitants (what there were of them) were 
rude and uncultivated. They were surrounded 
on nearly all sides, by dense forests, of which 
wild beasts and wandering Tarratines were the 
joint proprietors ; and which — with the exception 
of here and there a straggling Frenchman, or a 
Jesuit priest — had never been penetrated by 
civilized man. 

Such was the place selected by James Phipps 
as his future home ; and here he became the 
father, and that too by one wife, of no less than 
twenty-six children, twenty-one of whom were 
sons ! ! Of these, William was one of the 
youngest ; and as his father died when he was a 
child, he was left almost entirely to the manage- 
ment of his mother. Of the religious character 
of this remarkable mother, of her domestic 
habits and qualities, of the manner in which 
she trained and disposed of her children, of her 
subsequent history, and of the time and manner 
of her death, we have almost no information. 
And as little do we know respecting the other 
members of this numerous household. It is 



LIFE OF SIR WM. PH1PPS. 217 

stated that William was employed, chiefly, till 
his eighteenth year, in feeding and tending his 
mother's flocks. His business was to guard the 
pasture and the fold, and defend his charge 
from the inroads of wolves, and bears, and Indi- 
ans. Meanwhile, it does not appear that he had 
ever been to school at all, or had learned so 
much as to read or write. 

And here let us pause a moment, to contem- 
plate the condition of this young man, and to 
compare it with that of the youth among ourselves. 
Hardly any circumstances can be conceived 
more discouraging and repellent than his. 
He was but one of twenty-six children, of poor 
parents, and his mother a widow. Of course, 
he had nothing to expect, by way of parental 
assistance or patrimony. It devolved on him 
to assist his widowed mother, rather than on 
her to do much for him. Then he was entirely 
without education, patronage, or powerful friends, 
and had enjoyed but few opportunities of be- 
coming acquainted with the world. In these 
circumstances, who could have expected any- 
thing better of young Phipps, than that he 
should grow up in ignorance, become a squatter 
and a hunter, live and die a boor, and be forgot- 
ten ? 

But he early manifested that he had a soul 

vol. v. 19 



218 LIFE OF SIR WM. PHIPPS. 

which could not be confined to Nequasset. He 
was ignorant of many things, indeed of most 
things ; but he knew that he lived on the banks 
of a noble river, which rolled its waters into the 
great sea ; and on that sea he longed to embark, 
and to pursue his fortune in other lands. This 
desire, however, did not prompt him, as it some- 
times does inconsiderate youth, to abscond from 
the parental roof, and rush upon his course of 
adventure in disgrace. He would ship openly 
and honorably, or not at all ; and as no opportu- 
nity of doing this immediately presented, he 
concluded, as his next best resource, to appren- 
tice himself to a ship-carpenter. 

For the next four years of his life we are to 
contemplate him, therefore, as a laboring me- 
chanic ; — in an honorable and useful employ- 
ment, indeed, but one hardly comporting with 
his romantic and adventurous disposition. In 
one respect, however, he was an example to all 
succeeding apprentices. He did not rudely 
break his bonds, and desert his master, but 
served his time out to the end. 

Up to this period, he had scarcely traveled, 
(so far as we know,) beyond the precincts of his 
native village ; and his friends would fain have 
persuaded him to repress his roving spirit, and 
quietly settle among themselves. But to this 



LIFE OF SIR WM. PHIPPS. 219 

he could not consent. He seems to have had a 
presentiment that he was made for something 
better than could ever be realized in Nequasset. 

Accordingly, the next we hear of him is at 
Boston, where he worked at his trade about a 
year, employing his leisure hours in learning to 
read and write, and in acquiring the rudiments 
of arithmetic and navigation. In the course of 
this year, he received his first permanent relig- 
ious impressions, under the preaching of Dr. 
Increase Mather. Before the end of the year, 
he became a husband. 

His wife was the widow of a merchant by the 
name of Hull, and the daughter of Capt. Roger 
Spencer, of Saco. She was older than himself, 
and had some fortune ; but for aught that ap- 
pears, the connection was founded on mutual 
affection, and proved a permanently happy one. 
His course of life called him often away from 
the endearments of home, but he seems to have 
been, uniformly, a faithful and devoted husband. 

The addition to his pecuniary means acquired 
by his marriage, enabled him to enter into busi- 
ness for himself. He contracted with several 
Boston merchants to build them a vessel on the 
Sheepscot river, and bring back with him a 
load of lumber. This is the first mention of 
the Maine lumber trade, which I have been able 



220 LIFE OF SIR WM. PHIPPS. 

to discover in our early history. Phipps pro- 
ceeded to the place of his destination, built his 
vessel, launched it, and was just ready to take 
in his cargo, when an opportunity presented to 
test the kindness and generosity of his disposi- 
tion, though much to his pecuniary disadvan- 
tage. Instigated by the French, the Indians of 
those parts suddenly took up arms, and com- 
menced plundering and destroying the white 
inhabitants ; and to these defenceless inhabitants 
— some of them his former neighbors and family 
connections — young Phipps was now as a min- 
istering angel. He abandoned his lumber, re- 
ceived them on board his vessel protected, and 
succored them free of charge, and carried them 
all safe to Boston. An act like this, in a man 
of small resources, just entering into life, is 
worthy to be recorded. It served to develope 
his spirit and character, and was no doubtful 
presage of his future greatness. 

Of the next eight or ten years of Capt. Phipps' 
life, almost no incidents are recorded. His 
home was at Boston, but in what manner he 
spent his time, his biographer has not informed 
us. Of this we may be sure, however, that he 
was not idle ; for he could not be. His mind 
was fruitful in schemes and enterprises, and he 
was diligently occupied one way or another,. 



LIFE OF SIR WM. PHIPPS. 221 

Under the faithful preaching of the Mathers, he 
was, doubtless, acquiring religious knowledge ; 
while at the same time he was improving his 
education, and growing in a knowledge of the 
world. 

The period in our country's history of which 
we now speak was marked with some striking 
peculiarities. Men's minds were occupied with 
golden dreams, and not a few were rushing upon 
untried and absurd methods of procuring wealth. 
The success of the Spaniards in their mining 
operations led many to believe that the soil of 
New England covered vast quantities of gold 
and silver ; and mining rods and other strange 
expedients were resorted to, to discover, if pos- 
sible, the hidden treasure. 

Piracies, too, were of continual occurrence ; 
and if not countenanced, they were connived at, 
by some in authority. These were the days of 
such men as Joseph Bradish, and Robert Kidd, 
both of whom were apprehended in this country, 
and executed in England. Many believed that 
the pirates had secreted vast sums upon our 
shores, and instead of digging for money by the 
cultivation of their fields, they had recourse to 
dreamers and diviners to disclose to them the 
mysterious deposits. The absurd practice of 
money-digging commenced about these times ; 
19* 



222 LIFE OF SIR WM. PHIPPS. 

a practice which even now has not entirely 
ceased. 

It does not appear that Capt. Phipps ever 
sought to obtain wealth by any such methods. 
He had other and more feasible plans in view. 
He knew that, for a long course of years, Span- 
ish vessels had been crossing the ocean, heavily 
laden with gold and silver. He knew the usual 
track of these vessels. He knew that several of 
them had been lost. And it occurred to him that 
it would be possible to discover some of these 
wrecks, and bring back from the deep a portion 
of that wealth which it had swallowed up. This 
certainly was a lawful, if not a laudable enter- 
prise ; and however it may strike the mind of an 
adventurer now, it appeared sufficiently promis- 
ing, in that age, to engage the attention even of 
the government. 

Phipps' first voyage of discovery was made in 
a small vessel of his own. He succeeded in 
finding the wreck he was in search of, but the 
amount of treasure recovered from it was scarcely 
sufficient to defray the expense of the undertak- 
ing. 

Nothing discouraged, however, he prepared to 
renew the attempt, and to do it on a much lar- 
ger scale. He proceeded to England, and laid 
his plans directly before the king, James II. 



LIFE OF SIR WM. PHIPPS. 223 

The plain, blunt manner of the New England 
sailor seems to have commended him to the roy- 
al favor ; for he was immediately appointed to 
the command of the Rose Algier, a ship of eight- 
een guns and ninety-five men, with instructions 
to cruise among the "West India Islands. 

This expedition proved one of extreme hazard 
and difficulty to Capt. Phipps, owing to the mu- 
tinous and piratical character of his men. They 
are represented as " a motley and lawless crew, 
unused to the restraints of a ship of war," and 
intent only on the acquisition of gold ; and 
whether this were obtained by might or right, it 
mattered little to them. They soon became 
wearied with groping after wealth on the bottom 
of the ocean, preferring rather to capture it on 
the surface. They insisted on commencing a pi- 
ratical expedition against the Spanish vessels 
and towns. On one occasion, they broke out 
into open mutiny, drew their swords, and insist- 
ed that their commander should join them in 
their piracy, or lose his life ; but he, to use the 
language of Mather, " though he had not so 
much of a weapon as an ox-goad or a jaw-bone, 
yet like another Shamgar or Sampson, rushed 
in among them, and with the blows of his bare 
hands felled a part of them, and quelled the 
rest." This account will not seem improbable, 



224 LIFE OF SIR WM. PHIPPS. 

when it is recollected that Phipps was a man of 
gigantic stature and strength, as well as of the 
most undaunted bravery, before whose naked 
fists, when he became excited, a whole ship's 
crew of smaller and guilty men might be ready 
to quail. 

On another occasion, Capt. Phipps had an- 
chored his vessel near a small, uninhabited is- 
land, that it might undergo some repairs; and 
had removed his stores and a part of his guns to 
the shore. Under pretence of relaxation, the 
greater part of the crew had retired to the woods. 
While there, they formed a ring, and entered 
into a most solemn agreement that they would 
that very night seize the captain and his few 
friends, put them on shore and abandon them, 
take the vessel and the stores and go to seek 
their fortunes in the South seas. But the prov- 
idence of God interposed to defeat them. They 
had sent for the ship's carpenter, acquainted him 
with their purpose, and solicited him to join the 
conspiracy. He asked for half an hour to con- 
sider the matter, and in the meantime went to 
the vessel, as if to fetch away his tools. Two 
or three of the conspirators accompanied him, to 
watch his motions. Soon after he came on 
board he feigned himself sick, and ran into the 
cabin, as if to get some medicine. He here 



LIFE OF SIR W M . PHIPPS. 225 

found the captain alone, and in few words told 
him of the whole design. It was now towards 
evening, and Phipps had not more than two 
hours in which to prepare to meet his enemies ; * 
but his plan of operation was instantly formed. 
He directed the carpenter to go back to the crew, 
and in appearance to join them. He then rallied 
his few faithful friends, went on shore to the 
tent where he had deposited a part of his guns 
and his stores, drew the charges from the guns, 
wheeled them round, and brought away all the 
ammunition to the ship. He next loaded the 
guns which remained on board, and so leveled 
them that not one of the men on shore could get 
to the ship, or to the stores, without being in- 
stantly killed. - 

The mutineers soon made their appearance 
from the woods, but when they came near to the 
tent of provisions, and saw what had been done 
there, they cried out at once, We are betrayed. 
And they were confirmed in this, when they 
heard the captain calling out to them in a voice 
of thunder, to stand off, and saw him preparing 
to cut them down with his artillery. Perceiving 
that he now had them entirely in his power, and 
that he was intending to abandon them, as they 
had thought to abandon him, the wretches soon 
came to terms. They fell upon their knees, 



226 LIFE OF SIR WM. PHIPPS. 

protesting that they had nothing against him, 
except his unwillingness to join them in their 
wicked designs. They humbly entreated for- 
* giveness for the past, gave assurances of good 
behavior in future, and begged that they might 
be taken on board the ship. When he had suf- 
ficiently tried them, and secured their arms, he 
consented to receive them back ; but being now 
satisfied that they were not to be trusted, he soon 
sailed for Jamaica, and turned them off. In 
their place he embarked a few men, just to man- 
age the ship, and almost immediately returned 
to England. 

Notwithstanding his want of success in the 
immediate object of his expedition, Phipps was 
received with favor both by the admiralty and 
the king. He had proved himself to be a brave 
and a trustworthy commander. He had accom- 
plished all that, under the circumstances, could 
have been reasonably expected. He had defeat- 
ed the mutinous designs of his crew, and, at the 
imminent hazard of life, had saved a national 
vessel from becoming a marauder and a pirate. 

Before leaving the West Indies, Capt. Phipps 
had heard, from an old Spaniard, the story of a 
wreck which occurred some fifty years before ; 
and had satisfied himself as to the place of its 
occurrence. It was on a reef of rocks a few 



LIFE OF SIR WM. FKIPPS. 227 

leagues to the north of Port de la Plata, which 
is one of the ports of Hispaniola. He had even 
visited the spot himself, but without the time or 
the means for a thorough investigation. He was 
extremely anxious, therefore, to return, and to 
make one more attempt to recover the lost treas- 
ures of the deep. He hoped, for this purpose, 
to be put again in command of a national ship ; 
but in this he was disappointed. The govern- 
ment was unable or unwilling to undertake any 
more adventures of this nature. He next endeav- 
ored to interest some private individuals in the 
enterprise ; and in this he was more success- 
ful. The Duke of Albemarle, in connection 
with a few others, consented at last to fit out a 
vessel, and to give him the command of it. A 
tender was furnished, to make short excursions 
in places where the ship could not go. Various 
necessary implements were also provided, some 
of which were not only contrived, but construct- 
ed by Phipps himself. The king's patent was 
obtained, giving to the associates an exclusive 
right to all the wrecks that might be discovered, 
reserving but a tithe as the royal portion. 
V All things being in readiness, he set sail from 
London for Port de la Plata, where he speedily 
and safely arrived. Before commencing opera- 
tions, he constructed, from the trunk of a huge 



228 LIFE OF SIR W M . PHIFPS. 

cotton tree, a long boat, capable of carrying some 
fifteen or twenty men. In this labor, as in every 
other, he bore a part, swinging the adze and the 
axe with his own hand. " A number of the 
men, with some Indian divers, were now des- 
patched in the tender to the reef, while the cap- 
tain and the rest of the crew remained with the 
ship. Having anchored the tender at a conve- 
nient distance, the men proceeded in the boat to 
examine the rocks, which they were well able 
to do on account of the clearness and calmness 
of the sea." 

" The reef was of a singular form, rising 
nearly to the surface ; but the sides fell off so 
precipitously that a ship striking them must 
necessarily have bounded back, and sunk in 
deep water. Hoping to find the wreck lodged 
on some projecting shelf of the rock, the men 
rowed round it several times, and sent down the 
divers in different places. At the same time 
they hung over the sides of the boat, and strained 
their eyes in gazing downwards, to discover, if 
possible, some fragment of the ship. All, how- 
ever, was in vain, and they were preparing to 
return to the tender. But just as they were 
about to leave the place, one of the men perceiv- 
ing a curious sea plant, called a feather, growing 
in the crevice of the rocks, sent down one of the 



LIFE OF SIR W M . PHIPPS, 229 

Indians to pluck it. When the diver returned, 
he told them that he saw a number of great guns 
lying in the same spot. Other divers were im- 
mediately sent down, and soon one brought up 
a large ingot of silver, worth from two to three 
hundred pounds sterling. Overjoyed at their 
success, they marked the spot with a buoy, and 
then returned with the boat and tender to the 
ship." 

That they might the more agreeably surprise 
the captain, the men first told him a discourag- 
ing story, pretending that they had met with no 
success. But while they were talking, he 
chanced to spy the ingot of silver which they 
had placed under the table ; upon which he ex- 
claimed, in an agony of earnestness, " Why, 
what is this ? Whence comes this ?" And 
then they told him all the truth. After hearing 
their story, Phipps lifted up his hands and said, 
" Thanks be to God ! Now we are all made !" 

" The whole crew were immediately set to 
work, and in the course of a few days they 
fished up treasures from the ocean to the amount 
of three hundred thousand pounds sterling ; not 
less than a million and a half of dollars ! They 
first lighted on that part of the wreck where the 
bullion was stored, and which was brought up 
in solid ingots — called by the sailors sows and 

vol. v. 20 



230 LIFE OF SIR WM. PHIPPS. 

pigs. But they afterwards fell upon the coin, 
which had been stored in bags among the ballast. 
" It had remained there so long, that the bags 
were found covered with a calcareous incrustation 
of considerable thickness ; which being broken 
open with irons, the silver dollars showered out 
in great profusion." In addition to the silver 
thus " brought into the light of the sun, when it 
had been rusting under the waters for more than 
half a century," they discovered " vast treasures 
of gold, and pearls, and jewels" — in short, all 
that a Spanish galleon used formerly to be en- 
riched with. 

Captain Phipps and his company were not 
alone benefited by the discovery they had made. 
" In the course of the search, they were joined 
by one Adderley, a shipmaster from Providence, 
who had been of some assistance to Phipps in 
his former voyage, and who now met him by 
appointment in a small vessel. With his few 
hands, Adderley contrived, in a day or two, to 
load his vessel with silver, to the amount of sev- 
eral thousand pounds." 

The failure of provisions obliged the whole 
company to take their departure before the ex- 
amination of the wreck was complete. The last 
day that the men worked, they raised not less 
than twenty solid ingots of silver. To secure the 



LIFE OF SIR WM. PHIPPS. 231 

benefits of whatever might remain, Phipps im- 
posed an oath of secresy upon Adderley and his 
men, and exacted from them a promise that they 
would content themselves with what they had 
already received. But oaths and promises are 
of little account with such men. The secret 
was not kept, others visited the spot, and when 
Phipps returned, after the lapse of a year or two, 
it was found that every article of value had been 
taken away. 

Captain Phipps' good fortune, (as he doubt- 
less considered it, and as it proved in the end,) 
was the means of bringing him into immediate 
trouble with his men. They had, of choice, 
enlisted for wages, not wishing to incur any risk 
as to the issue of the voyage. And though they 
were less grasping and mutinous than his for- 
mer crew, yet when they saw the vast amount 
of treasure which their vessel contained, the 
temptation was too great for them. Their plan 
was to divide the booty among themselves, and 
then " be gone to lead a short and merry life in 
some land, where the arrest of their employers 
would not be able to reach them." 

In this solemn crisis of his affairs, Captain 
Phipps seems to have felt more deeply his need 
of Divine help, and to have been more impressed 
with religious considerations, than ever before. 



232 LIFE OF SIR WM. PHIPPS. 

" He made his vows," says Mather, " unto Al- 
mighty God, that if he would carry him safe 
home to England, with the treasures he had now 
given him, he would forever devote himself unto 
the interests of the Lord Jesus Christ, and of his 
people, more especially in that land which gave 
him birth." At the same time, he used all im- 
aginable obliging arts to make his men true to 
him, assuring them, that, in addition to their 
wages, ample requitals should be made to them ; 
and that, if the proprietors at home would not 
agree to this, he would divide his own share 
with them. Relying on his word, and won by 
his kindness, the crew now declared themselves 
content. Still, keeping a most watchful eye 
upon them, he thought it prudent to hasten back 
to England, not daring to stop so much as to 
take in provisions at any nearer port. He 
arrived safe in London, with all his treasure, in 
the year 1687. 

The first thing now was, to make an equitable 
division of the profits ; and here the integrity 
and generosity of the commander were conspic- 
uous. According to the conditions of the patent, 
the government was entitled to a tenth. The 
men, also, received the gratuity which had been 
promised them, to their entire satisfaction.' The 
remainder was so divided among the individuals 



LIFE OF SIR WM, PHIPPS. 233 

interested, that Phipps' share amounted to only 
about sixteen thousand pounds. In addition to 
this, however, and in token of satisfaction with 
his conduct, the Duke of Albemarle presented 
Madame Phipps with a golden cup, worth not 
less than a thousand pounds. 

There were those about the court who advised 
King James to seize the whole cargo, alleging 
that there had been some deception in procuring 
the patent. But the king indignantly rejected 
such infamous counsels. " He avowed his en- 
tire satisfaction with the conduct of the enter- 
prise, and declared that Phipps had displayed so 
much integrity and talent, that he should not 
henceforth want his countenance. In conse- 
quence of the service done by him in bringing 
so much treasure into the country, and as an 
earnest of future favors, he conferred on him the 
honor of knighthood, and requested him to 
remain in England, with the promise of employ- 
ment " in the navy. 



20* 



234 LIFE OF SIR WM. PHIPPS. 



CHAPTER II. 

Sir William Phipps interests himself for New England. Makes a 
profession of religion in Boston. Captures Port Royal and the 
Eastern provinces. Fails in an expedition against Canada. Is 
appointed Governor of Massachusetts. His reception in Boston. 

When Sir William Phipps, — for henceforward 
we must speak of him under a new title, — had 
honorably discharged his freight, and settled his 
affairs in London, he began to think of his late 
vow, in relation to service for his native land. 
It was true, indeed, that he regarded himself as 
having been ill-treated by some of his own 
countrymen ; but this did not at all abate his de- 
sire, or his conscious obligations, to do them 
good. 

The situation of affairs in New England was 
at this time deplorable. The original colonial 
charter of Massachusetts had been taken away ; 
and this outrage had been followed by the ap- 
pointment, as governor, of Sir Edmund Andros, 
— a man well qualified, by his imperious temper 
and grasping disposition, to execute the arbitrary 
designs of the English court. The governor's 



LIFE OF SIR WM. PHIPPS. 235 

secretary, and chief counselor was Edward 
Randolph, the old and constant enemy of the 
colonists, who had done more to disoblige and 
injure them, than any other man in the world. 

The government of these men continued be- 
tween two and three years ; and to our venera- 
ble fathers it was truly a reign of terror. To 
use one of Mather's significant comparisons, 
" The foxes were now made the administrators 
of justice to the poultry." The religious rights 
of our ancestors were grossly invaded. The 
liberty of the press was taken away. Their 
very titles to their freeholds were called in 
question. They were led seriously to consider 
whether their lives would be long secure. In 
their distress and alarm, they contrived to send 
the Rev. Increase Mather as their agent to Eng- 
land, to lay their case directly before the king, 
and to implore protection and relief. He arrived 
in London in the spring of 1688, where he met 
his old parishioner, Sir William Phipps, and in 
whom he found a zealous and an efficient 
helper. Indeed, the measure of countenance 
which Mr. Mather received from king James, is 
by some ascribed almost entirely to the influence 
of Phipps, who had now a high reputation at 
court, and was a personal favorite with the 
kinsf. 



236 LIFE OF SIR WM. PHIPPS. 

The immediate' object of both was, to obtain 
the restoration of the colonial charter, or to 
secure, in some way, the rights and privileges of 
the people ; but this they found it impossible to 
accomplish. On one occasion, the king inti- 
mated to Sir William, that whatever request he 
might make, would be favorably received. The 
latter immediately solicited the restoration of 
chartered privileges to his native land ; but the 
king replied : ' ' Anything but that, Sir William ; 
anything but that." 

Unable to succeed in his primary object, 
Phipps determined, after consulting with Mr. 
Mather, to apply for the office of sheriff of New 
England, hoping in that way to supply the 
country with firm and upright juries, and thus 
bring some relief to its suffering inhabitants ; 
more especially to those who were obliged to 
defend, in the courts, the titles to their landed 
estates. It was not without much difficulty, and 
some money, that he obtained this office ; and 
when he arrived in Boston with his commission, 
he found it impossible to execute it. The 
tyrannical governor, and his more grasping sec- 
retary, were resolved not to be checked in their 
career of plunder, by any such influences as he 
could command. Instead of yielding to him, 
they would fain have arrested him ; and on one 



LIFE OF SIR W M . PHIPPS. 237 

occasion, went so far as to make an attempt 
upon his life. " He was like to have been 
assassinated," says Mather, " before his own 
door, and in face of the sun." 

At the commencement of the following year, 
1689, we find Sir William again in England. 
The revolution had now taken place, king James 
was in exile, and William and Mary were on the 
throne. The fallen monarch, through one of his 
adherents in London, now offered to recall An- 
dros, and to bestow on Phipps the government 
of New England ; but the latter had too much 
wisdom to accept the offer. He was satisfied that 
James' power was at an end, and had no doubt 
that the revolution in England would be followed 
by one equally summary and salutary on the 
other side of the water, and so, in fact, it came 
to pass. No sooner had the news of king 
James' overthrow reached New England, than 
the people rose as one man ; took possession of 
a frigate which had been stationed in the harbor 
of Boston, with a view to overawe them ; drove 
Andros and his counselors into the fort; and 
compelled them, in a few hours, to surrender at 
discretion. The old colonial governor, Mr. 
Bradstreet, was induced to return to office, the 
former magistrates were restored, and the entire 
machinery of government was put in operation, 



238 LIFE OF SIR W M . PHIPPS. 

much as it had been previous to the abrogation 
of the charter. Never was revolution more 
complete or satisfactory ; the whole having been 
accomplished without the shedding of a drop of 
blood. Two additional agents were immedi- 
ately sent to England, through whom a report of 
these proceedings were transmitted to the king. 
He signified his approbation of what had been 
done, and a commission was issued, empowering 
the Massachusetts government to act under the 
provisions of the old charter, till the principles 
on which colonial affairs were in future to be ad- 
ministered, could be definitively settled. Thus 
the political state of New England, was, for the 
time, established on its original basis ; and Mr. 
Mather and his colleagues, had no longer any 
occasion to apply for a redress of present griev- 
ances, but only for a confirmation of existing 
privileges, — a circumstance which much in- 
creased their prospect of ultimate success. 

The presence of Sir William Phipps being no 
longer required in England, he improved the 
opportunity to return to Boston, where he arrived 
in the summer of 1689. And here he remained 
for the greater part of a year, in the enjoyment 
of a quiet home, and of religious privileges, un- 
der the ministry of his distinguished friend and 
pastor, the Rev. Cotton Mather, This opportu- 



LIFE OF SIR WM. PHIPPS. 239 

nity he improved for accomplishing what he had 
long intended and desired, viz., the making of a 
public profession of religion. On the 23d of 
March, 1690, he received the rite of baptism, 
and became a member of the Old North Church 
in Boston. 

In accordance with what was then the invari- 
able practice of that church, he was required to 
present a written narrative of his religious exer- 
cises, and experience ; and I extract the entire 
paper, not only on account of its intrinsic inter- 
est, but because it is supposed to be the only 
authentic production of Sir William's pen, which 
is now extant. The narrative was addressed to 
the pastor, Rev. Cotton Mather, and is as fol- 
lows : 

" The first of God's making me sensible of 
my sins was in the year 1674, by hearing your 
father preach concerning tfo day of trouble near. 
I did then begin to think what I should do to be 
saved, and did bewail my youthful days, which 
I had spent in vain. I did think that I would 
begin to mind the things of God. Being then 
some time under your father's ministry, much 
troubled with my burden, but thinking of that 
Scripture, " Come unto me all ye that labor and 
are heavy laden, and I will give you rest," I 
had some thoughts of drawing as near to the 



240 LIFE OF SIR WM. PHIPPS. 

communion of the Lord Jesus as I could ; but 
the ruin which the Indian wars brought on my 
affairs, and the entanglements which my follow- 
ing the seas laid upon me, hindered my pursuing 
the welfare of my own soul, as I ought to have 
done. At length God was pleased to smile on 
my outward concerns. The various providences 
both merciful and afflictive, which attended me 
in my travels, were sanctified unto me, to make 
me acknowledge God in all my ways. I have 
divers times been in danger of my life ; and I 
have been brought to see that I owe my life to 
him who has given his precious life for me. I 
thank God, he hath brought me to see myself 
altogether unhappy without an interest in the 
Lord Jesus Christ, and to close heartily with 
him, desiring him to execute all his offices on 
my behalf. I have now, for some time, been 
under serious resolutions, that I would avoid 
whatever I should know to be displeasing to 
God, and that I would serve him, all the days 
of my life. I believe no man will repent the 
service of such a master. I find myself unable 
to keep such resolutions, but my serious prayers 
are to the Most High, that he would enable me. 
God hath done so much for me, that I am sensi- 
ble I owe myself to him. To him I give my- 
self, and all that he has given me. I cannot 



LIFE OF SIR WM, PHIPPS. 241 

express his mercies to me. But as soon as ever 
God had smiled upon me with a turn of my 
affairs, I laid myself under solemn vows, that I 
would set myself to serve his people and 
churches here, to the utmost of my capacity. I 
have had great offers made me in England, but 
the churches of New England, were those 
which my heart was most set upon. I knew, 
that if God had a people anywhere, it was here ; 
and I resolved to rise and fall with them ; neg- 
lecting very great advantages for my worldly 
interest, that I might come and enjoy the ordi- 
nances of the Lord Jesus here. 

" It has been my trouble, that since I came 
home, I have made no more haste to get into the 
house of God, where I desire to be ; especially 
having heard so much about the evil of that 
omission. I can do little for God ; but I desire 
to wait upon him in his ordinances, and to live 
to his honor and glory. 

"My being born in a part of the country 
where I had not, in my infancy, enjoyed the 
first sacrament of the New Testament has been 
something of a stumbling block to me. But 
though I have had proffers of baptism elsewhere, 
I resolved rather to defer it, until I might enjoy 
it in the communion of these churches. I have 
also had awful impressions from those words of 

vol. v. 21 



242 LIFE OF SIR WM. PHIPPS. 

the Lord Jesus, ' Whosoever shall be ashamed 
of me, and of my words, of him shall the Son of 
Man be ashamed.' 

" When God had blessed me with something 
of this world, I had no trouble so great as this, 
lest it should not be in mercy ; and I trembled at 
nothing more than being put off with a portion 
here. That I may make sure of better things, 
I now offer myself unto the communion of this 
church of the Lord Jesus." 

This document bears indubitable marks of the 
sincerity and true piety of its author. There is 
manifest in it a deep sense of the Divine good- 
ness and of his own unworthiness on account of 
sin, a simple trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as 
the sinner's only hope, and an earnest consecra- 
tion of the whole soul to him, which no hypo- 
crite could well counterfeit. Indeed, hypocrisy, 
on any subject, could never be charged upon Sir 
William Phipps. He was a plain, blunt, out- 
spoken man, whose faults lay on the side of 
frankness, sometimes hastiness of speech, rather 
than on the side of concealment. 

The circumstances in which Sir William was 
now placed, — his 'ample fortune, his high stand- 
ing and reputation, his quiet and comfortable 
home, would have satisfied most other men, and 
disposed them to a retired and domestic life. 



LIFE OF SIR W M . PHIPPS. 243 

But such a life had no charms for him, nor 
indeed could he reconcile it with his convictions 
of duty. In conversation with his pastor, he 
frequently expressed his feelings on this wise : 
" I have no need to Jook after any farther ad- 
vantages for myself in this world ; I may sit 
still at home, if I will, and enjoy my ease for 
the rest of my life ; but I believe that I should 
offend God in so doing : For I am now in the 
prime of my age and strength, and I thank God, 
I can endure hardship. He only knows how 
long I have to live. But I think it is my duty 
to venture my life in doing good, before a use- 
less old age comes upon me. Wherefore, I will 
now expose myself where I am able, and as far 
as I am able, for the service of my country. I 
was born for others, as well as for myself." 

There is no reason to question the sincerity 
of this language ; and certainly it indicates a 
noble and generous mind. It expresses the feel- 
ings both of the patriot and the Christian. And 
circumstances immediately occurred, — indeed, 
they were already occurring, which put his pa- 
triotism to the test. 

The French were at this time in possession of 
nearly all of what is now termed British Amer- 
ica, on the North and East of us, and of Louis- 
iana on the West, Between them and the 



244 LIFE OF SIR WM. PHIPPS. 

English colonies on every side, were widely 
extended and almost unbroken forests, — the pos- 
session and the abode of various tribes of 
Indians. With these Indians, our forefathers 
might, in general, have maintained peace, could 
they only have been kept from foreign influ- 
ence ; but French priests and emissaries, who 
were among them, were continually instigating 
them to violate their treaties with the English, 
and to fall upon and plunder their defenceless 
villages. Such was the origin of nearly all the 
Indian wars of that day ; more especially those 
in New Hampshire and Maine. The policy of 
the French was, to drive out, and destroy the 
English colonists ; to take possession of their 
towns and settlements ; to supplant the Protest- 
ant religion by the Romish ; and to divide with 
Spain the whole American continent. 

At this very time a destructive Indian war 
was raging on the frontiers, and had been so for 
several months. Schenectady, in New York, 
Salmon Falls, in New Hampshire, and Fort 
Pemaquid, in Maine, had successively fallen 
into the hands of the enemy. The Indians had 
possession of all the eastern and central parts of 
Maine, and were pushing their conquests into 
the older settlements. Experience had shown 
that it was to little purpose to make treaties 



LIFE OF SIR WM. PH1PPS. 245 ' 

with these savages ; so long as the French con- 
tinued to supply them with arms and ammuni- 
tion, and to encourage them in their wars, they 
would not regard any engagements into which 
they might enter, but would continue their work 
of plunder and death. 

A plan was matured, therefore, (of which Sir 
William Phipps was in part the contriver, as he 
was the leader,) to take forcible possession of 
some of the principal French fortresses and 
towns, and ultimately to drive them from this 
part of North America. 

Port Royal was then the capital of the French 
province of Acadia, (now Nova Scotia,) and was 
defended by a fort, It was conveniently situated 
for furnishing supplies to the eastern Indians, 
and for affording a shelter to the privateers which 
plundered the English shipping, and occasional- 
ly the smaller settlements on the coast. In 
short, it was one of the rallying points from 
which issued forth most of the bad influences 
with which our fathers, at that period, were 
obliged to contend. It was determined, there- 
fore, by means of a naval armament, to attempt 
the capture of Port Royal; and Sir William 
Phipps, though not accustomed to military oper- 
ations, was constituted the commander of the 
enterprise. 

21* 



246 LIFE OF SIR WM. PHIPPS. 

In his instructions, which were furnished him 
by Governor Bradstreet, he was ordered " to 
take care that the worship of God be maintained 
and duly observed on board all the vessels ; to 
offer the enemy fair terms upon summons, to 
which, if they accede, the said terms are to be 
faithfully observed ; but if not, you are to gain 
the best advantage you may — to assault, kill, 
and utterly extirpate the common enemy, and to 
burn and demolish their fortifications and ship- 
ping. Having reduced Port Royal, you are to 
proceed along the coast, for the reducing of the 
other places and plantations, in the possession 
of the French, unto obedience to the crown of 
England." 

Furnished with these instructions, Sir Wil- 
liam sailed from Nantasket on the 28th of April, 
1690, with a fleet of seven or eight vessels, and 
an army of about seven hundred men. He ar- 
rived at Port Royal on the 11th of May. The 
French governor, Meneval, was taken com- 
pletely by surprise ; nor was the town, though 
containing several thousand inhabitants, in a 
situation to afford any effectual resistance. The 
conquest, therefore, was short and easy. " Sir 
William took possession of the place, in the 
name of the English government, demolished 
the fort, and administered the oath of allegiance 



LIFE OF SIR WM. PHIPPS. 247 

to those of the French inhabitants who chose to 
remain. 

He then appointed a governor of the town, 
with a small garrison, and set sail on his 
return, carrying with him a large amount of 
property. On his way home, he landed at the 
various settlements, and took formal possession 
of the coast, from Port Eoyal to Penobscot. 
The whole province of Acadia was thus sub- 
dued, and remained in the possession of the 
English till the peace of Ryswick, in 1697, 
when it was restored to the French." 

On the return of the armament, a committee 
was appointed " to take charge of the property 
brought from Port Royal ; to sell the same ; and 
from the proceeds, to defray the expenses of the 
expedition. Should there be any surplus, the 
same is to be divided into two equal parts ; the 
one to be reserved for the use of the colony, and 
the other to be applied for the use of the officers 
and soldiers who have been engaged in the ser- 
vice." The surplus thus divided is supposed to 
have been considerable. 

During the absence of Phipps, the Indians, 
under the direction of the Canadians, " had 
been carrying on the war with much success in 
Maine. In the early part of May, the fort at 
Casco was surprised, and more than a hundred 



248 LIFE OF SIR W M . PHIPPS. 

men were taken prisoners. The loss of this 
post compelled the weaker garrisons along the 
coast to fall back upon Saco, and ultimately 
upon Wells, leaving the whole eastern country 
either in actual possession of the enemy, or en- 
tirely defenceless." The news of these disas- 
ters caused much alarm at Boston, and led our 
forefathers to the determination, if possible, to 
get possession of Quebec and the Canadas, as 
they were already in possession of Port Royal 
and the eastern provinces. 

This enterprise had been talked of before the 
return of Phipps and his squadron; but when 
his successes came to be known, it assumed a 
new interest, and was resolved on without 
delay. Every encouragement was given to 
induce volunteers to enlist for the service, and 
the most strenuous efforts were made to procure 
the requisite amount of funds. Letters were 
dispatched to England, setting forth the great 
importance of the undertaking, and asking as- 
sistance, more especially in the supply of am- 
munition and arms. Sir William Phipps was 
constituted first in command, and Major John 
Walley, second ; and by the middle of July, a 
fleet, consisting of thirty-two vessels, having on 
board some 2200 men, was in readiness to de- 
part. An arrangement had been made with the 



LIFE OF SIR WM. PHIPPS. 249 

governors of New York and Connecticut, by 
which a land expedition from these colonies 
was to invest Montreal, at the same time that 
Phipp's armament appeared before Quebec. 

Perhaps no warlike expedition in the early- 
history of our country was ever more wisely 
planned than this. Nor had there ever been 
one, in regard to which public expectation was 
more raised and intense. And certainly no one, 
either before or since, ever proved a more de- 
cided failure, and all this without seriously im- 
plicating either the skill or the bravery of the 
commander. The principal causes of the fail- 
ure were the following : 

In the first place, the expedition was delayed, 
waiting for supplies from England (which never 
came) till the proper season for commencing it, 
for that year, was past. Then there was a 
further delay, from contrary winds, from the 
difficulty of procuring pilots, and from the ne- 
cessity, at the last, of proceeding without them. 
Besides, the promised co-operation from New 
York and Connecticut was not realized. Their 
troops, after commencing their march, became 
disheartened and turned back, leaving the entire 
French force in Canada, which otherwise would 
have been divided, to concentrate itself at Que- 
bec. In addition to all this, a malignant fever 



250 LIFE OF SIR WM. PHIPPS. 

and the small-pox broke out in the fleet, and 
made painful ravages among the troops. 

Notwithstanding all these hindrances and dis- 
couragements, Sir "William persevered, and on 
the 5th of October appeared before Quebec. 
The next day he sent an officer on shore, with 
a summons to the governor to surrender ; which 
summons was haughtily and indignantly an- 
swered. As soon as it could be done, about 
thirteen hundred of the troops — all who were 
able, and could be spared from the ships — were 
landed under the direction of Major Walley; 
but they had to encounter the most formidable 
difficulties from cold and storm, from the unan- 
ticipated number and force of the enemy, and 
more especially from the cowardice and incom- 
petency of their leader. This last circumstance 
was a sufficient cause of their defeat, if there 
had been no other. Sir William, with some 
his larger ships, sailed up the river and bom- 
barded the town; but the houses being built 
mostly of stone, with sides too thick for a ball 
to penetrate, the firing caused but little injury. 

The army remained on shore some three or 
four days, defending themselves as best they 
could against the combined force of the ele- 
ments, and the bullets of the French and In- 
dians, but making no effective advances towards 



LIFE OF SIR WM. PHIPPS. 251 

the capture of the place. At length, there 
seemed to be no alternative but to return to 
their ships ; and the expedition was reluctantly- 
abandoned. 

The return of the fleet, at that inclement 
season of the year, was peculiarly disastrous. 
Owing to violent storms, it was found impossi- 
ble to keep the ships together. One vessel was 
never heard of after they separated. Another 
was burnt at sea. Four of them were blown so 
far from the coast, that they did not reach 
Boston for several weeks after the rest of the 
fleet, when they had been given up as lost. 
The fate of one was so very peculiar as to re- 
quire a more particular description. It was 
commanded by Capt. John Rainsford, contained 
sixty men, and was wrecked, on the night of 
the 28th of October, on a desolate island, in the 
gulf of St. Lawrence. For several days, the 
crew hoped to get off; but despairing of this at 
last, they went ashore with their provisions, and 
made such preparations as they could for spend- 
ing the cold, long winter on the island. They 
built " nine small chimney-less things, which 
they called houses," and also a shelter for their 
stores. Having not more than a supply of pro 
visions for a month, and expecting to remain on 
the island six or seven months, they were 



252 LIFE OF SIR WM. PHIPPS. 

obliged to put themselves upon the shortest al- 
lowance possible. They established laws for 
their little community; maintained the daily- 
worship of God in their houses ; and " observed 
the Lord's day with more solemn exercises of 
religion." 

Before the middle of winter, more than half 
of their number had died. In addition to the 
rest of their troubles, they had those among 
them who would not be satisfied with the daily 
allowance of provisions, but were continually 
pilfering from the common stock. In particular, 
says Mather, " there was a wicked Irishman, 
who had such a voracious devil within him, 
that after divers burglaries upon the storehouse, 
he at last stole and eat with such a pamphagous 
fury, as to cram himself with no less than 
eighteen stolen biscuits at one meal; and he 
was fain to have his belly rubbed and bathed 
before the fire, lest he should have burst." As 
a measure of necessity, in order to their own 
preservation, the company had serious thoughts 
of putting this wretch to death ; but it does not 
appear that they did so. 

These men continued together till the 25th of 
March, when five of their number took a boat 
which had been saved from their vessel, and 
committed themselves to the waves, with the 



LIFE OF SIR WM. PHIPPS. 253 

intention, if possible, of getting to Boston, and 
then of returning for the rest of the crew. In 
this open boat, exposed to storms, winds, ice- 
bergs, and all sorts of perils, these five men 
were confined no less than forty-five days ; 
when, on the ninth of May, they actually came 
into Boston, greatly to the surprise and joy of 
their friends, who had put on mourning for them 
as dead. A vessel was immediately sent to the 
relief of the survivors, which brought them in 
safety to their homes. 

As remarked already, the defeat of this Cana- 
dian enterprise can in no way be attributed to 
want of capacity or courage on the part of the 
commander-in-chief; nor was it so considered 
by our fathers at the time. It seems to have 
been peculiarly the work of Providence, and 
that, too, a mysterious Providence. In view of 
it, Sir William Phipps said, " that though he 
had been used to diving in his day," (alluding 
to the manner in which he had recovered so 
much treasure from the ocean,) " the things 
which had befallen him in this expedition were 
too deep to be dived into:' For had only one of 
three or four contingencies been ordered differ- 
ently, the result might have been as happy as it 
was now disastrous. If, for example, the troops 
from New York and Connecticut had fulfilled 
vol. v. 22 



254 LIFE OF SIR WM. PHIPPS. 

their engagements in attacking Montreal, or if 
mortal sickness had not invaded the fleet, and 
destroyed or disabled great numbers of the sol- 
diers, or if the second officer in command, who 
had the entire direction of the land forces, had 
exhibited the same capacity and bravery as the 
leader — more especially, if the expedition had 
not been delayed by contrary winds and storms, 
giving the enemy opportunity to concentrate his 
forces and strengthen his fortifications — in all 
probability Quebec might have been easily 
taken. Indeed, La Hon tan, a French writer 
who was on the spot, affirms, that had Sir 
William arrived before Quebec only one week 
earlier, he might have taken it without striking 
a blow ; as there were then but two hundred 
regular troops in the place, which was open and 
exposed in every direction. 

The disastrous failure of this expedition threw 
the government of the colony into great embar- 
rassment. The people were distressed, not only 
by the loss of property and of friends, but by an 
onerous public debt, which they had not the 
ability to pay. It was at this time, and under 
these circumstances, that the first experiment 
was made in this country of paper money. 
" Bills of credit were issued, which the faith of 
the government was pledged to redeem. The 



LIFE OF SIR WM. PHIPPS. 255 

notes were of various denominations, from two 
shillings up to ten pounds sterling ; and as no 
greater amount was issued than would be 
brought into the treasury in two years by taxes, 
and as express provision was made that these 
notes should be received, even at five per cent, 
advance, in payment of taxes, it was hoped that 
the paper would circulate, as of equal value with 
gold or silver." And so in fact it would, had the 
government of the country been in a more set- 
tled state. But as the existing government was 
merely a provisional one, which might be abol- 
ished or changed at any time by the king, it 
was thought that the faith of the government 
was not a sufficient security. 

Numerous expedients were resorted to, to keep 
up the credit of these notes. To this end, Sir 
William Phipps set a noble example, in consent- 
ing to receive a large amount of them, at par, in 
exchange for gold and silver. Still, the credit 
of the bills fell, so that the holders of them did 
not receive, in some instances, more than four- 
teen shillings to the pound. They were all re- 
deemed, ultimately, by the government at their 
full value ; but the holders of them, at the time 
of redemption, were in general capitalists, and 
not the poor soldiers, who ought in justice to 
have received the benefit. 



256 LIFE OF S I E W M . PHIPPS. 

But it is time that we return to Sir William 
Phipps. He arrived in Boston, with the remains 
of his fleet, on the 19th of November; defeated 
indeed as to the grand object of his Canadian 
expedition, but still not in despair as to final suc- 
cess. In fact, the word despair seems to have 
had no place in his vocabulary, as the thing it- 
self had no place in his heart. He immediately 
resolved upon a voyage to England, with a view 
to lay before the king in person, " the consider- 
ations in favor of another attempt to wrest from 
the French all their North American possess- 
ions." He accordingly embarked in the depth 
of winter, and after a tedious passage arrived 
at Bristol, whence he hastened on to London. 

" He there offered the king his services in the 
command of a second expedition ; and in a pa- 
per which he presented, strongly set forth the 
importance and feasibility of the scheme." The 
reasons which he urged were, in substance, as 
follows: 1, The success of the design would 
give the English the exclusive benefit of the fur 
trade, and secure from further injury the Hud- 
son's Bay Company, several of whose factories 
had recently fallen into the hands of the enemy. 
2, It would also secure the Newfoundland fishe- 
ries, and materially increase the amount of that 
business, 3, It would afford the greatest en- 



LIFE OF SIR W M . PHIPPS. 257 

couragement, and might be necessary even to the 
existence of the American colonies. For, if the 
French were allowed to retain their possessions 
in the country, the constantly increasing influ- 
ence of the priests would finally enlist all the 
Indians on their side, and by this means the 
English might be at length extirpated. 

These were all sound arguments, but the 
English government was not then in a situation 
to undertake the enterprise. After the lapse of 
another half century, it was undertaken and car- 
ried through ; although at an expense of blood 
and treasure an hundred-fold greater than would 
have been necessary, had the representations of 
Phipps and the colonists been listened to at the 
proper time. 

But though Sir William failed of the immedi- 
ate object which led him to England, the event 
proved that Divine providence had sent him 
there for another object. The Rev. Mr. Mather 
and his associates were still there, endeavoring 
to procure the restoration of the former colonial 
charter. But this was found to be impractica- 
ble. The question then was, whether to accept 
a new charter, such as they might be able to se- 
cure, or to return without any, trusting to the 
king's clemency to continue the existing provis- 
ional government. On this question, the agents 
22* 



258 LIFE OF SIR W M . PHIPPS. 

of the colony were divided among themselves ; 
Mr. Mather and Sir Henry Ashurst being in fa- 
vor of a charter, and the other members of the 
agency opposing it. Sir William Phipps arrived 
in London just at the time when this question 
was agitated, and united his influence with that 
of Mr. Mather. The colony had suffered so 
much under the late king, that they were un- 
willing to trust the mere word of a king any 
further. And this was understood to be the 
sentiment of a majority of their constituents at 
home. 

Henceforward, therefore, the efforts of the 
agents were chiefly directed to the negotiating 
and procuring of a new charter. In this, they 
were essentially aided by Sir William Phipps. 
Nor did they fail to enlist the good offices of the 
queen, who consented to write to the king in 
Holland on their behalf. 

About the first of September, the instrument 
was completed ; and Mr. Mather was desired to 
nominate a candidate for the office of governor. 
On this question his mind had long been made 
up. The fact that Sir William Phipps was a 
native of New England, that he possessed a 
high rank and a large estate, that he had already 
served the crown in several important capacities, 
and had obtained the favor of the king without 



LIFE OF SIR WM. PHIPPS. 259 

forfeiting his popularity at home, — these several 
considerations clearly pointed him out as by far 
the most suitable person for the office. His 
name was accordingly presented to the council ; 
and when Mr. Mather, a few days afterwards, 
obtained an audience of the king, he addressed 
him in the following terms : " In the behalf of 
New England, I do most humbly thank your 
majesty, that you have been pleased, by a char- 
ter, to restore English liberty unto your subjects 
in that country, to confirm them in their proper- 
ty, and to grant them some peculiar privileges. 
I doubt not but that they will demean themselves 
with such dutiful affection and loyalty to your 
majesty, that you will see cause to enlarge your 
favors towards them. And I do most humbly 
thank your majesty, in that you have been 
pleased to give leave unto those that are con- 
cerned for New England to nominate their gov- 
ernor. Sir William Phipps has accordingly 
been nominated at the council board. He hath 
done a good service for the crown, by enlarging 
your dominions, and reducing Nova Scotia to 
your obedience. I know that he will faithfully 
serve your majesty, to the utmost of his capaci- 
ty ; and if your majesty shall think fit to confirm 
him in that place, it will be a further obligation 
on your subjects there." 



260 LIFE OF SIR WM. PH1PFS. 

In consequence of this nomination, a commis- 
sion was prepared, under the great seal, by 
which Sir William Phipps was appointed Cap- 
tain-general and Governor-in-chief of the Prov- 
ince of Massachusetts Bay in New England. 
Under this title were included, by the new char- 
ter, not only the old colony of Massachusetts, 
but also the Plymouth colony, the Provinces of 
Maine and Nova Scotia, and all the country 
lying between them, as far north as the St. 
Lawrence river. By his commission, he was 
also constituted Captain-general of the colonies 
of Connecticut and Rhode Island. 

Sir William, with Mr. Mather, was admitted 
to kiss the king's hand, on the third of January, 
1692. Early in the spring they embarked in 
the None-Such frigate for New England, and 
arrived at Boston in May of the same year. The 
General Court were soon called together, when 
they passed a resolve, appointing a day of solemn 
thanksgiving to Almighty God, " for granting a 
safe arrival to his excellency, the governor, and 
the Rev. Mr. Increase Mather, who have indus- 
triously endeavored the service of this people, 
and have brought over with them a settlement 
of government, in which their majesties have 
graciously given us distinguishing marks of the 
royal favor and goodness." 



LIFE OF SIR WM. PHITPS. 261 

On the Monday following his arrival, Gov. 
Phipps was inaugurated. The ceremonies and 
services of the occasion were as follows : He 
was conducted from his own house to the town- 
house by a large military escort, and by the 
principal gentlemen of Boston and vicinity. The 
services were opened with prayer by Rev. Mr. 
Allen, one of the ministers of Boston. The 
charter was next read ; then the governor's 
commission ; after which the venerable governor 
Bradstreefc resigned the chair. The commission 
of Lieutenant-governor Stoughton was also read. 
The whole was concluded with a public dinner 
from which the governor was escorted back to 
his house, 



262 LIFE OF SIR W M . P H I P P S . 



CHAPTER III. 

Governor Phipps' administration. His measures for the suppression 
of witchcraft. His dealings with the Indians. Encounters oppo- 
sition and enemies. Is summoned to England. His sudden death. 
His general character. 

As Sir William Phipps was the first governor 
under the new charter, it may well be supposed 
that, at his very entrance upon office, many 
things would require attention. Magistrates 
were to be appointed, laws to be framed, and the 
entire government to be organized and put in 
operation, according to the provisions of the new 
constitution. In all these important matters, the 
governor demeaned himself as a true son of 
New England. The spirit which he manifest- 
ed was kind and conciliatory, willing to forego 
the full exercise of his prerogative, and to con- 
sult the wishes of those for whom he ruled. 
Thus, at the first meeting of the council for the 
appointment of civil officers, instead of nomina- 
ting them himself, as he might have done, he 
permitted them to be nominated by the members 



LIFE OF SIR WM. EHIPPS. 263 

present, himself only voting on the question of 
their approval. To the representatives, also, he 
was accustomed to use language such as this : 
" Gentlemen, you may make yourselves as easy 
as you will. Consider what may have any ten- 
dency to your welfare, and be sure that whatev- 
er bills you offer me, consistent with the honor 
and interest of the crown, I shall pass them 
readily. I do but seek opportunities to serve 
you. Had it not been for this, I should never 
have accepted the government of the Province. 
And whenever you have settled such a body of 
good laws, that no person coming after me may 
make you uneasy, I shall not desire one day 
longer to continue in the government." In ac- 
cordance with these declarations, says Mather, 
the governor " passed every act for the welfare 
of the province which was proposed to him ; and 
instead of ever putting them upon buying 
his assent to any good act," (as more than one 
of the royal governors afterwards did) " he was 
much more forward to give it, than they were to 
ask it." 

Sir William Phipps entered upon his govern- 
ment in the very midst of the excitement respect- 
ing witchcraft. At the time of his arrival, 
Justices Corwin and Hathorne had been for 



264 LIFE OF SIR WM. PHIPPS'. 

months holding their witch courts at Salem, 
and the jails were filled with suspected or in- 
dicted persons. What the governor's particular 
views of the subject were, we have no means of 
knowing. The probability is, that he had never 
given much attention to it, and that he fell in 
with the prevailing opinions. But whether he 
did so, or not, it was necessary for him, as chief 
magistrate, to take some decisive action in re- 
gard to it ; and I know not whether, under exist- 
ing circumstances, he could have pursued a more 
satisfactory course than he did. 

With the advice and consent of council, a 
commission was issued to seven of the principal 
citizens and jurists of the colony, viz.: Lieut. 
Governor Stoughton, Maj. Saltonstall, Maj. 
Richards, Maj. Gedney, Mr. Wait Winthrop, 
Capt. Sewall, and Mr. Sergeant, constituting 
them a court, to try the accused persons at Sa- 
lem. The judges first assembled, June 2d, and 
tried and condemned one, who was executed on 
the tenth. The court then adjourned to June 
30th ; and in the meantime, the governor and 
council asked advice of the ministers of Boston 
and the vicinity, as to the course to be pursued. 
After due deliberation, the ministers gave their 
advice, under the following particulars : 



LIFE OP SIR WM. PHIPPS. 265 

1. They express their sympathy with those 
who are " suffering by molestation from the in- 
visible world," and " think that their condition 
calls for the utmost help of all persons, in their 
several capacities." 

2. They thankfully acknowledged the success 
which has followed the efforts of the magistrates 
" to defeat the withcrafts," and pray for a full 
and perfect discovery of all this mysterious wick- 
edness. 

3. They recommend " a very critical and ex- 
quisite caution, lest, by too much credulity for 
things received only upon the devil's authority, 
there be a door opened for a long train of mis- 
erable consequences." 

4. The rulers are exhorted not to proceed, in 
any case, upon mere presumption, and to show 
" an exceeding tenderness towards those that 
may be complained of, especially if they have 
been persons of an unblemished reputation." 

5. The next advice is, that the primary exam- 
ination of suspected persons may be without 
noise, company or excitement, and that there 
" may be nothing used as a test for the trial of 
the suspected, the lawfulness whereof may be 
doubted by the people of God." 

6. The ministers recommend to the magis- 
vol. v. 23 



266 LIFE OF SIR WM. PHIPPS. 

trates not to convict, or so much as commit per- 
sons, on what was called " the spectral evidence ;" 
inasmuch as it is an undoubted thing that a de- 
mon may appear, even to ill purposes, in the 
shape of an innocent and virtuous man. They 
also pronounce any " alteration made in the 
sufferers by a look or touch of the accused," to 
be insufficient evidence of guilt. 

7. The ministers further suggest, whether 
" another rejection of the testimonies commonly 
relied on, whose whole force and strength is from 
the devils alone, may not put a period unto the 
progress of the terrible calamity begun upon us, 
in the accusation of so many persons, whereof 
some, we hope, are clear of the great transgress- 
ion laid to their charge." 

8. Having given the above directions, sugges- 
tions and cautions, the ministers " humbly 
recommend to the government the speedy and 
vigorous prosecution of such as have rendered 
themselves obnoxious, according to the direc- 
tions given in the laws of God, and the whole- 
some statutes of the English nation."^ 

By those who seem inclined to traduce the 
ministers of that day, (and more especially Cot- 



*This paper of advices may be found entire, in Hutchinson's Hist, 
of Mass., Vol. II., p. 52. 



LIFE OF SIR W M . PHIPPS. 267 

ton Mather, by whom these advices are said to 
have been drawn up,) this last article is almost 
the only one quoted or referred to. It is quoted 
often, as though it stood alone, without any re- 
striction or qualification ; as if the ministers were 
only anxious to have the judges make all due 
despatch, and condemn and hang the suspected 
witches as fast as possible. But this, it will be 
seen, is altogether an unjust view of the case. 
These advices of the ministers are to be taken 
and judged of, as a whole ; and as a whole, they 
were manifestly framed and designed with a 
view to reprove much of the previous proceed- 
ing, particularly that of the Salem justices, and 
to prevent, so far as possible, the like proceed- 
ings in future. They do, indeed, " recommend 
the speedy and vigorous prosecution of those 
who have justly rendered themselves obnox- 
ious ;" but the recommendation is accompanied 
with such cautions, restrictions, and qualifica- 
tions, that, had they been duly regarded, there 
probably had not been another individual con- 
victed. If the trials had been conducted with 
that " exceeding tenderness" towards the ac- 
cused, which the ministers recommended ; if the 
" spectral evidence," together with all improper 
tests, had been set aside ; if all testimony of ev- 



268 LIFE OF SIR W M . PHIPPS, 

ery kind, which rested only on the devil's au- 
thority, had been rejected, the judges might have 
proceeded as vigorously as they pleased, — the 
more vigorously the better ; for by this means 
the jails had been the sooner emptied, and the 
accused persons had been set at liberty. 

From persons who believed in the reality of 
witchcraft, and that the proper* witch is deserv- 
ing of death, (as all these ministers most seri- 
ously did,) I see not how better advice than 
that which they proffered to the magistrates on 
this occasion, could reasonably have been ex- 
pected. And happy had it been for all con- 
cerned, if the judges had been content to follow 
it. But they would not. At least, some of 
them would not, particularly chief justice Stough- 
ton. He seems to have been fully satisfied, at 
least for a time, as to the validity of the " spec- 
tral evidence," and other branches of the devil's 
testimony ; and consequently the work of hang- 
ing went on. 

The court had several sessions during the 
summer, and nineteen persons in all were exe- 
cuted. Happily, the trials were adjourned from 
September to January ; in which time opportu- 
nity was furnished for consideration, and for the 
delusion more fully to develope itself ; and when 



LIFE OF SIR WM. PHIPPS. 269 

the court came together again, nearly all who 
were put upon trial were acquitted, and those 
who were not put on trial were, by order of the 
governor, discharged. " Such a jail delivery," 
says Hutchinson, "was made at this court, as 
was never known at any other time in New 
England." 

The conduct of Governor Phipps was such, at 
this trying period, as to procure for him not only 
the thanks of his own countrymen, but the fa- 
vorable notice of the Queen. "She did him the 
honor," says Mather, " to write unto him very 
gracious letters, wherein her Majesty commend- 
ed his proceedings in these mysterious matters." 

A story is told of lady Phipps, in this connec- 
tion, which is quite too good to be omitted. 
During her husband's absence, her interposition 
was requested in behalf of a woman, who had 
been committed by one of the justices on a 
charge of witchcraft, by a formal warrant, under 
his hand and seal. The poor woman was in 
close confinement, expecting her trial at the next 
assize, which was near at hand. Madam Phipps 
believed the case to be one in which the forms 
of law might well be dispensed with. She 
signed a warrant with her own hand for the 
woman's discharge, which order was obeyed by 
23* 



270 LIFE OF SIR WM. PHIPPS. 

the keeper, and the woman was set at liberty. 
It was not long after this, that lady Phipps her- 
self was suspected, if not accused, of witchcraft. 
The history of this delusion is not one to be 
merely deplored, or laughed at. It is an in- 
structive history, and particularly so at the pres- 
ent day. We live in an age of marvels, some 
of them claiming to be well attested, and chal- 
lenging the belief of the community. But if we 
compare the wonders of this age with those of 
Salem and the vicinity, in 1692, we shall find 
that the latter have even stronger evidence in 
their favor, than the former. The latter were 
attested, in some instances, by hundreds of wit- 
nesses, and were recorded by grave men on the 
page of history. And now, if any one asks 
whether I believe the witch stories of 1692, I 
answer, that las much believe "them, as I do 
that sleep-walkers in our day visit the moon and 
the planets, hold converse with their inhabitants, 
receive letters from the spiritual world, and per- 
form other feats equally strange and unaccount- 
able. The evidence in favor of the witch stories 
is greater, I repeat, than that for the marvels of 
our own times ; and the faith of those who have 
full confidence in the latter, ought not to mis- 
give or stagger at the former. 



LIFE OF SIR WM. P HIP PS. 271 

But to return from this digression. The 
delusion under which our fathers labored res- 
pecting witchcraft, was as short-lived, as it was 
violent. The people were soon awakened by a 
sense of their common danger ; and though a 
few individuals here and there, continued to 
urge prosecutions, the juries refused to convict. 
And one of the last public acts of Sir William 
Phipps was to issue a general pardon to all who 
had been convicted or accused of the offence. 

At an early period in his administration, the 
new Governor was called to contend with a 
class of enemies more tangible, if not more 
formidable, than witches and demons. An In- 
dian war had broken out again on the Eastern 
frontier, and was raging in different parts of 
Maine. To restore confidence to the settlers, 
and to afford the best means of restraining and 
repelling the enemy, it was determined to erect 
a strong fortress, at some central point along the 
coast. The site selected for this purpose was on 
the Pemaquid river, near the mouth, at the 
Southern extremity of what is now Bristol, 
Maine. A fort had previously existed there, 
which the Indians had destroyed ; but a 
more permanent one was now to be erected. 
For this purpose the Governor, attended by 



272 LIFE OF SIR WM. PHIPPS, 

Major Church and four hundred and fifty men, 
embarked at Boston, in August, 1692, and 
shortly after arrived at Pamaquid. The fort 
was in a quadrangular form, and the walls were 
of stone. It was named Fort William Henry ; 
and was of great service both to the settlers and 
the government. The war with the Indians was 
now pursued with so much vigor, that in the 
course of a few months, they were inclined to 
peace. A treaty was formed and signed at Pe- 
maquid, in August of the following year. 

While the peace continued, Governor Phipps 
took all proper measures to conciliate the good 
will of the Indians, and induce them to break off 
their connection with the French. For this pur- 
pose, he made several voyages from Boston to 
Pemaquid, and had repeated interviews with 
their principal chiefs. On one occasion, he took 
an Indian preacher with him, for the purpose of 
instructing them in Protestant Christianity. 
But the artifices of the Jesuits were as various 
as they were contemptible, and their influence, 
in the end, proved too strong for him. The 
chiefs would receive the Governor's presents, 
and make fair promises ; but on the first favor- 
able opportunity, would renew their depreda- 
tions. 



LIFE OF SIR W M . PHIPPS. 273 

As a specimen of the kind of instruction which 
the Catholic priests of that day afforded the In- 
dians, I may notice the following : The Indians 
were taught, says Mather, that the blessed vir- 
gin, the mother of our Saviour, was a French 
lady ; and that the soldiers who crucified him 
were Englishmen. Hence, to destroy an En- 
glishman was regarded by them as a meritorious 
service. 

Governor Phipps' administration was short ; 
and though one of great service to the country, 
it was not altogether peaceful or pleasant to him- 
self. That party in the Province who were 
averse to the new charter, would naturally op- 
pose the man by whose influence, in a consider- 
able degree, the charter was procured, and who 
was the first to administer the government under 
it. These men were the persevering, unrelent- 
ing demagogues of the times ; and they lost no 
opportunity of thwarting the Governor's meas- 
ures, impugning his motives, and resisting his 
authority and influence. 

In connection with these, there was a clique 
of selfish, interested individuals at the English 
court. More especially, the infamous Joseph 
Dudley was there, intriguing and plotting against 
the Governor, that he might effect his removal, 



274 LIFE OF SIR WM. PH1PPS. 

and have his place. Dudley had been a princi- 
pal counselor and minister of Sir Edmund An- 
dros, and by this means had made himself so 
odious in New England, that he was obliged to 
flee his country. But he was now scheming 
and planning to return, and that, too, not as a 
private citizen, but as the chief magistrate ; — a 
design, which, after a while, he accomplished, 
much to the discomfort of all good men. 

But Governor Phipps' troubles arose, not 
alone from the machinations of his enemies, but 
in part, (for the truth must be told) from his own 
indiscretions. He had been bred a sailor, not a 
governor ; and his habits were better adapted to 
the control of a literal ship, than to the direction 
of the ship of state. His heart was kind and 
generous — this no one could doubt ; but his tem- 
per was hasty, and unused to restraint, and this 
led him, in a few instances, to say and do things 
which were not becoming the dignity of his 
station. 

His first quarrel was with one Brenton, col- 
lector of the port of Boston, who refused to obey 
his orders, and whom he chastised with his own 
hands. He had a similar difficulty with Cap- 
tain Short, of the None-Such Frigate, which 
was stationed at the time at Boston, The Gov- 



LIFE OF SIR WM. PH1PPS. 275 

ernor had ordered Short to sail for St. John's, 
to intercept a French man-of-war which was 
expected there. Short reluctantly obeyed the 
order, and proceeded on his voyage, but with so 
much hesitation and delay, that the Frenchman 
escaped out of his hands. The Governor 
meeting him in the street soon after his return, 
accused him of negligence and cowardice, and 
(after some hard words on both sides) used his 
cane over his head. 

Such methods of discipline in a New England 
Governor, however great may have been his 
provocation, were certainly undignified and un- 
justifiable, and his enemies did not fail to make 
the most of them. Both Brenton and Short 
soon made their appearance in England, where 
they preferred complaints against him, and 
united with Dudley and others in requesting 
that he might be displaced. The king, however, 
would not recall or censure him before he was 
heard, and sent him an order to come to Eng- 
land and make his defence. Accordingly, he 
left Boston in the month of November, 1694, 
carrying with him an address from the house of 
representatives, praying that the Governor might 
not be removed. 

On his arrival in London, he was arrested by 



276 LIFE OF SIR WM. FHIPPS. 

Dudley and Brenton, in actions of twenty thous- 
and pounds damages. This proceeding on the 
part of Dudley seems to have been one of pure 
spite. He had received no injury from the 
Governor, and his design could only have been 
to embarrass his situation, and perhaps to ingra- 
tiate himself with the opposition at home. 

These actions, however, seem to have given 
his Excellency no great trouble ; nor indeed had 
he any difficulty in so far vindicating himself to 
his Sovereign, as to have (to use the language 
of Mather,) " all human assurance " of being 
permitted, in a few weeks, to return to his gov- 
ernment. 

Accordingly, he seems to have dismissed, 
almost entirely, his own personal affairs, and to 
have occupied himself, during his stay in Lon- 
don, with various designs for the public good. 
One was, a plan " for supplying the English 
navy with timber and naval stores from the 
Eastern parts of New England. The concep- 
tion," says Mr. Bowen, " was plausible, and no 
person was better fitted than himself to carry it 
into execution." 

Another thing which he had in mind, and of 
which, for years, he had never lost sight, was 
the reduction of Canada. Hitherto. Divine 



LIFE OF SIS WM. PHIPPS. 277 

providence had defeated all his endeavors for the 
accomplishment of this important object; and 
the present moment seemed a favorable one to 
urge it personally upon the English government, 
and to concert measures for carrying it into 
effect. 

He had still another plan which he was in- 
tending to accomplish, even if it required the 
resignation of his government. He knew that 
the ship, having on board the Spanish Gover- 
nor Bobadilla, together with a vast amount of 
gold and silver, had been cast away somewhere 
in the West Indies, and he supposed that he 
had gained such information as would enable 
him to discover the wreck. He was proposing, 
therefore, to secure a patent in his own name, 
and to make one more attempt to possess him- 
self of the treasures of the deep. 

But the designs of his fertile and busy brain 
were all suddenly arrested by mortal sickness. 
He took a violent cold, in the month of Febru- 
ary, 1695, which resulted in a malignant fever, 
and this, in a few days, carried him to his 
grave. He died in the 45th year of his age, 
and was honorably interred in the church of St. 
Mary Woolnoth, London. 

Sir William Phipps left no children. His 

vol. v. 24 



278 LIFE OF SIR WM. PHIPPS. 

estate was chiefly inherited by the Hon. Spen- 
cer Phipps, a nephew whom he had adopted 
into his family, and whose name frequently 
occurs in the history of the colony. His widow 
afterwards married a Mr. Sergeant, who was a 
member of the Board of Council in the year 
1702. 

I have already said, that Sir William Phipps 
was a man of great stature. Mather says, that 
" he was thick as well as tall, and strong as 
well as thick ; able to conquer such difficulties 
of diet and travel, as would have killed most 
men alive." He is said to have been of a 
comely, manly] countenance, indicating (what 
he certainly possessed) a generous mind. 

His residence in Boston was at the head of 
what was, originally, " Green Lane." Out of 
compliment to him, and to commemorate his 
agency in procuring the provincial charter, this 
Lane was afterwards called " Charter Street." 
The house remained standing, at the corner of 
Charter and Salem Streets, until within a few 
years, when it was pulled down to make way 
for modern improvements. 

The faults of Sir William Phipps were 
chiefly such as sprung from his want of early 
education, and from his habits and associates in 



LIFE OF SIR WM. PHIPPS. 279 

middle life. That he had many virtues, in ref- 
erence to which he may safely be held up as an 
example, all respectable authorities agree. 

His most prominent characteristics were those 
at which I hinted in the commencement of this 
memoir, viz., enterprise, energy, and persevering 
industry. It was these, rather than good luck, 
■as it is sometimes called — rather than any 
unsought, unlooked for interpositions, which 
raised him from poverty to affluence, and from 
the humblest walks of life to that high and hon- 
orable station which he finally occupied. 

But these properties alone could never have 
thus exalted him. He might have had all these, 
and if he had lacked honor, honesty, and strict 
Puritan integrity, he had only been the more 
accomplished villain. He would have the sooner 
involved himself in infamy and ruin. In all his 
eventful history, Sir William Phipps is not 
known to have been chargeable with one mean, 
dishonest, or dishonorable transaction.^ He 



* The only exception to this statement, of which I have any 
knowledge, relates to his conduct at the taking of Port Royal. It 
has been said, that the town was not captured, but surrendered ; 
and that, according to the terms of capitulation, private property 
was to be respected. In reply to this, I need only say, that there is 
no evidence, aside from the word of Meneval, the French governor, 
that there teas any stipulation in regard to private property. And 



280 LIFE OF SIR WM. PHIPPS. 

violated no contracts. He would not raise ex- 
pectation only to disappoint it, or encourage 
confidence to betray it. He would descend to 
no base, hypocritical artifices to supplant a rival, 
or to rid himself of burthensome obligations. His 
faults, as I before stated, all lay in the opposite 
direction. He was, through life, a frank, hon- 
est, open-hearted, out-spoken man; and these 
were the traits of character which inspired pub- 
lic confidence, and retained it. It was these 
traits, in common with those to which I before 
referred, which changed the untutored shepherd 
boy into the skillful artisan, the bold ship-master, 
the successful military chieftain, the Provincial 
Governor ; — which made him, in short, what for 
a time he certainly was, the first man in his 
country. 

The Rev. Dr. Mather, who was his intimate 



if there was none, the habitual rapacity of the French and Indiana 
fully justified Phipps, at least according to the notions of that age 
in all that he did. There were stipulations in regard to the disposal 
of the prisoners, and these were satisfactorily complied with. It is 
remarkable that good old governor Bradstreet, and his council, make 
no complaint of Capt. Phipps, in relation to this matter. Indeed, if 
he erred, they were participes crimince, partners of his guilt. 
They shared the spoils, and expected to, if any were acquired. It is 
remarkable, too, that Hutchinson utters not a note of censure on the 
subject. The presumption, therefore, is, that no stipulation was 
entered into, which was not fulfilled. 



LIFE OF SIR W M . PHIPPS, 2S1 

friend and pastor, has mentioned several other 
traits of character, in which Sir William Phipps 
was worthy of all imitation. One of these was 
a forgiving spirit. " I never saw three men in 
the world," says he, "who equalled him in this 
respect. In the vast variety of business through 
which he raced in his time, he met with many 
and mighty injuries ; but although I have heard 
all that the most venomous malice could hiss at 
his memory, I never did hear, unto this hour, 
that he ever once deliberately revenged an inju- 
ry.^ Under great provocations, he would com- 
monly say, ' It is no matter ; let them alone. 
Some time or other they will see their weakness 
and rashness, and have occasion for me to do 
them a kindness ; and then they will see that I 
have quite forgotten all their baseness.'" 

It is not uncommon for persons, when sud- 
denly raised from humble life to the possession 
of great wealth and honors, to become purse- 
proud, imperious, and overbearing. But nothing 
of this was observable in the case of Sir William 
Phipps. On one occasion, in the latter part of 



* His biographer admits that, upon "sharp affronts he sometimes 
made sudden returns, and by a word or a blow chastised incivili- 
ties;" but he harbored no deliberate revenge. He possessed emi- 
nently a. forgiving spirit. 

24* 



2S2 LIFE OF SIR WM. PHIPPS. 

his life, he made a splendid entertainment for 
the ship carpenters of Boston, in the midst of 
whom he sat down to commemorate God's mer- 
cy to him, who had been a ship carpenter him- 
self. And not unfrequently did he affirm, when 
in the chair of state, that were it not for his 
obligations to the public, he would much prefer 
to return to his broad-axe. 

In his frequent voyages to and from the east- 
ern parts of Maine, he passed in sight of the 
hills among which he was born. On such oc- 
casions he would call the young soldiers and 
sailors round him, and speak to them after this 
fashion : " Young men, it was upon those hills 
that I kept sheep, only a few years ago. And 
since you see how the Almighty has led me 
along, do you learn to fear God, and be honest, 
and mind your business, and follow no bad 
courses, and who can tell what he may have in 
store for you ?" And who can tell how much 
good may have resulted — how many good reso- 
lutions may have been awakened and strength- 
ened, in consequence of these homely, but 
impressive appeals ? 

Sir William Phipps was an ardent lover of 
his country ; and by his country I mean more 
especially New England. It will be recollected 



LIFE OF SIR WM. PHIPPS. 283 

that, when returning from the West Indies, with 
his immense cargo of gold and silver, he made a 
vow, that if the Lord would bring him safe to 
England, he would forever devote himself to the 
interests of his people, more especially in the 
land which gave him birth. This solemn vow 
was never afterwards forgotten. From that time, 
he seemed to identify himself with the interests 
of New England, and to live almost entirely for 
his country. He was always planning, and la- 
boring, and exposing himself to hardships and 
perils, for her good. And though he was often 
ungratefully treated, still his love and his care 
for her were not diminished. The last thoughts 
of his busy life were occupied in forming and 
maturing plans for the welfare of his country. 

But the most important trait in the character 
of Sir William Phipps remains to be mentioned. 
He was a sincere, devout, and on the whole a 
consistent Christian. He became deeply im- 
pressed with religious truth, under the ministry 
of Dr. Increase Mather, during the first or sec- 
ond year of his residence in Boston. In subse- 
quent life, he made an open profession of his 
faith in Christ, and although not free from re- 
maining imperfections, (of which he was himself 
more sensible than others could be,) yet he 



284 LIFE OF SIR W M . PHIPPS. 

adorned that profession to the day of his death. 
"It was not his habit," says Mather, "to affect 
any mighty show of devotion ; and when he saw 
persons evidently careful to make a show, who 
at the same time were defective in the duties of 
common justice or goodness, he from his heart 
despised them. Nevertheless, he did show a 
conscientious desire to observe the laws and or- 
dinances of the Lord Jesus Christ." He was 
constantly present at the house of God on the 
Sabbath, and at the stated lectures of the church. 
He maintained the worship of God, morning and 
evening, in his family. He usually attended the 
private religious meetings which devout people 
observed every fortnight in his neighborhood. 
When about to undertake any great and difficult 
enterprise, he would invite some of his Christian 
brethren to keep a day of fasting and prayer 
with him at his house. And when success had 
crowned his undertaking, he would prevail with 
them to come and keep a day of solemn thanks- 
giving. 

Sir William Phipps was, in the best sense of 
the term, a liberal Christian. He was an earn- 
est advocate of the rights of conscience, being 
equally unwilling to suffer injury himself in this 
matter, and to injure others. " He did not con- 



LIFE OF SIR WM. PHIPPS. 285 

fine his Christian regards," says Mather, " to 
this or that sect or party, but wherever he saw 
the fear and the love of God, whether among 
Congregationalists, or Presbyterians, or Anti- 
Pedobaptists, or Episcopalians, he did, without 
any difference, express towards them a reverent 
affection." 

That he was a man of great personal courage, 
a variety of incidents in his life bear witness ; 
and the foundation of his courage, as he himself 
explained it, lay in his piety. When asked by 
some one who had observed his valor, what it 
was that made him so little afraid of dying, his 
answer was, " I do humbly hope that the Lord 
Jesus Christ has shed his precious blood for me, 
and thereby procured my peace with God, and 
why should I be afraid to die ?" A much better 
answer this — more reasonable, more Christian, 
than any that should have been based on mere 
natural fortitude. 

The following passage occurs in a sermon 
preached at Boston, on occasion of the death of 
Sir William Phipps, by the venerable Dr. In- 
crease Mather ; and with it, I close the consid- 
eration of his character : " Governor Phipps is 
now dead, and no longer capable of being flat- 
tered ; but this I must testify concerning him 



286 LIFE OF SIR WM. PHIPPS. 

that though, in the providence of God, I have 
been much with him, at home and abroad, near 
at hand and afar off, on the land and on the sea, 
yet I never saw him do an evil action, or heard 
him speak anything unbecoming a Christian" 

Such then was the man — a puritan, a Christ- 
ian, a true son of New England, and an orna- 
ment of our New England history, whose life 
and example I have endeavored to portray. I 
know that my task has been but very imperfect- 
ly accomplished. I have said but little, in com- 
parison with what might and ought to be said, 
in order to a full delineation of the remarkable 
character which has been before us. But if the 
facts which have been stated shall have the ef- 
fect to arouse one of my young readers to great- 
er energy, activity and enterprise, to impress 
him with sentiments of honor and integrity, to 
quicken his conscience, to soften his heart, to 
inspire him with love of country, and the love 
and the fear of God, and thus lead him on to 
the possession of a pure, a holy, a spiritual, a 
useful character ; — if such shall be the effect of 
the memoir, the labor of preparing it will be 
richly compensated. 



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